Sydney Colson, a former Indiana Fever guard who played alongside Sophie Cunningham last season, publicly criticized her ex-teammate this week over comments Cunningham made months ago about transgender athletes in women’s sports.
In remarks that circulated widely online, Colson said white players in the WNBA who stay silent on issues affecting their Black teammates, or who speak out in ways she considers harmful, lose the respect of the locker room.
“Listen, if you never speak up about a d—n thing when you know it’s impacting the people that you claim to love, care about, you know we’re fighting together as a team, sister, blah blah blah, and you don’t speak up when things affect them. They don’t respect you,” Colson said. “They are just trying to make it.”
“Let me just tell you now, for real, for real: For the white players in the league, when you don’t say s—t, and even worse, when you say things that are harmful, talking about the trans s—t, nobody respects you. Shut the f—k up. Shut the f—k up. Nobody wants to hear your opinion. Freedom of speech, so you can say it, but just know people are just trying to get by when they’re dealing with you.”
“And you ought to be ashamed. Y’all ought to be ashamed to act like you’re cool with people, to act like you care about sisterhood, all of these things.”
Colson’s comments referenced remarks Cunningham made to ESPN months earlier about transgender athletes in women’s sports. At the time, Cunningham said she had received negative feedback suggesting she hated transgender people, which she disputed.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that.’ 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,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham, a guard for the Indiana Fever, has become one of the more talked-about figures in the WNBA this season, drawing both criticism and support for her public statements. She has averaged at least 8 points per game off the bench for the Fever every season since 2022, including two seasons in double figures, and ranks among the league’s top five three-point shooters.
Colson, who played with Cunningham in Indiana last season, has had a comparatively limited scoring role over her WNBA career, averaging under three points per game.
Neither the Fever nor the WNBA has issued a statement addressing Colson’s remarks.
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