Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith defended WNBA star Sophie Cunningham after she said men do not belong in women’s sports, arguing that she voiced an opinion that most other people share.
In a segment on his SiriusXM show on Thursday, Stephen A. Smith said that Sophie Cunningham spoke for the silent majority when she said men do not belong in women’s sports.
“What if an NBA player decided to transition to playing in the WNBA?” Smith asked. “How elite would they be? How great would they be? We gotta put stuff in its proper perspective and call it like it is.”
“I am a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community,” Smith added. “I believe in supporting people’s civil rights and civil liberties come hell or high water to the end. But you also gotta look out for everybody else. You can’t look out for a trans athlete at the expense of biological women. What did they do? Just like there’s a sport for men, there should be a sport for women, get a sport for trans athletes, or league rather.”
“We live in a society where people got scared. They got scared to say these things. We’ve got to stop that. Every truth ain’t meant to be told…but it ain’t meant to be hidden either,” Smith continued. “You can’t have a society where we’re ignoring the clear unfairness of a male transitioning to female and competing in their sports. It is clearly unfair to women. Sophie Cunningham is a thousand percent right!”
Speaking with ESPN this week, Cunningham expressed support for keeping biological men out of women’s sports.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” Cunningham told ESPN.
“I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” she added.
Her comments sparked severe backlash from the online left, prompting her to double down in a press conference on Wednesday.
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense, and I think I will always believe in that. “I think it’s really important to protect children.” “
“I don’t dislike anyone,” she added. ” I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women.”