Sophie Cunningham went from the hardwood to the bar top on Friday night.
Hours after the Fever’s 98-87 victory over the Wings, Cunningham went viral on social media after she climbed atop the bar at Clayton’s Country Bar in Indianapolis and belted out Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue” as the crowd sang along.
The performance came after Cunningham helped the Fever continue their late-season surge with their eighth win in their last 10 contests, giving her another viral moment away from the court.
Cunningham has made headlines of late after she addressed the topic of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
In a bombshell interview with ESPN last month, Cunningham touched on the issue, setting off a league-wide controversy.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” Cunningham told the outlet.
“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 doubled down on the comments just days later.
“I said what I said, I think it’s common sense,” Cunningham told reporters. “I think I’ll always believe in that, it’s really important to protect children. And that’s little girls, who are also involved in that category. I stand by what I said, and I’ll always believe that.”
Cunningham has since faced some backlash from across the sports world, with some of it coming while on the court.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wore a shirt that read “Trans Kids Belong” during a game against Cunningham’s Fever earlier this month.
There have also been rallies in support of Cunningham outside numerous Fever road games.
Last Saturday, Cunningham was hit in the face on a layup attempt by the Sky’s DiJonai Carrington, who was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game.
After the contest, Carrington took to her Threads account and wrote: “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever,” seemingly taking a shot at the Indiana star.
Carrington, after being criticized by former NFLer Emmanuel Acho, hit back at him over what she meant.
“I’ve never once claimed that the assessment of the foul was white privilege (that was your assumption),” she wrote on X, while quote-tweeting a clip of Acho. “Try exercising your critical thinking skills, I know you studied psych. Furthermore, I’m the LAST thing from ignorant or asinine when it comes to speaking on ‘white privilege,’ do ya research on that one. I actually went to school, one of the top universities might I add, to educate myself on this exact subject.
“I would never use that term as a rhetorical weapon knowing the historical and social weight it holds without having the proper evidence to substantiate it.”
The WNBA also recently discussed the topic of trans athletes at a task force meeting this week and said afterward that “there are no immediate eligibility matters affecting” the league.
