White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday that President Donald Trump is paying attention to the blowback WNBA star Sophie Cunningham has received over her political views.
Cunningham, a guard for the Indiana Fever, has been labeled a “MAGA Barbie” over comments she made in an ESPN interview earlier this week about not wanting young girls competing against biological men in sports.
“He is following the story. As you know, this is something the president feels strongly about as well, and the American people do too — that men should not be playing in women’s sport,” Leavitt said in response to a question on the topic during Thursday’s White House briefing. “It’s completely ludicrous that anyone can support that. It’s even more ludicrous that Sophie Cunningham, a female athlete herself, very accomplished in her own right, coming forth and speaking that truth, that men shouldn’t play in women’s sports.”
“You want to protect women and girls, and the backlash she is receiving from Democrats and left-wing thinkers across the country is astonishing,” she continued. “They are clearly very out of touch with the American public on this issue, which again is an 80-20 issue.”
Cunningham herself addressed the backlash earlier this week, saying that her position was “common sense.”
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“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham told the Athletic. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”
You can watch Leavitt’s briefing in full below.