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Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith on a segment of his self-titled SiriusXM show heavily criticized a WNBA coach over a shirt she wore courtside that said, “Trans Kids Belong.”
In a game Sunday against the Indiana Fever, Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wore the shirt following comments made by Fever guard Sophie Cunningham where the Indiana player said she wants “to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Smith, in a 14-minute rant on the Tuesday edition of his show, said it was “an irresponsible thing” for Reeve to wear the shirt and added that she did not consider “how it effects the collective brand of the WNBA and how they may be frowned upon by half of America.”
The topic has gotten national attention for years, but especially since the Supreme Court in June upheld bans in Idaho and West Virginia, ruling states are allowed to bar transgender girls from competing in girls and women’s school sports teams. In March, the International Olympics Committee decided it will ban transgender women athletes from women’s events ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
NCAA President Charlie Baker told a Senate panel in 2024 that there are fewer than 10 transgender athletes he was aware of who competed in college sports.
Smith further accused Reeve of knowingly taking advantage of the presence of star Fever player Caitlin Clark to draw more eyes to her statement.
“We gotta stop this. We gotta stop acting like somebody that’s speaking up on behalf of girls, like the Sophie Cunninghams, like the Riley Gaineses, are scourges of the earth,” he added.
Reeve has worn shirts to make statements before, but she also got attention this time for having a pre-game conversation with Cunningham, of which she declined to share the details.
Smith defended his comments in a post on social platform X, writing, “I’m not backing down from this one.”
“You can support people’s rights AND believe biological men shouldn’t compete in women’s sports. Those two things are not mutually exclusive,” he wrote.
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