J.D. Vance Gushes Over WNBA Star Sophie Cunningham Following Controversial Transgender Comments: 'Keep Speaking Your Mind'

During an interview on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle on Wednesday, August 5, Vice President J.D. Vance explicitly told host Laura Ingraham that Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham should continue to voice her opinions.

Vance said she's "inspiring a dozen people for every person that criticizes you," praising her stance against transgender women competing in women's sports as an act of contagious courage.

The controversy stems from an ESPN profile published in July, where Cunningham was asked about her political views and the "MAGA Barbie" nickname given to her by some fans.

She advocated for restricting women's sports and locker rooms to biological females, later framing her perspective as "common sense.”

She has since maintained that her table is open to everyone with love, but stands firmly by her stance on protecting biological women's sports.

Her comments heavily divided the WNBA fanbase and drew media scrutiny. Tension escalated further when a Seattle Storm minority owner was suspended for five games after verbally confronting courtside fans who supported Cunningham.

When asked by Ingraham to react to the backlash and physical play targeted at Cunningham, Vance defended the WNBA player by stating, "Sometimes when you're courageous in this country, some of the worst people in the world try to attack you. What I would tell Sophie and anybody else is keep speaking your mind. You actually are inspiring a dozen people for every person that criticizes you. And we cannot take our country back; we cannot save the United States of America unless you have people of courage who are speaking their mind. The thing about courage, Laura, is it's contagious,"

He concluded by telling Cunningham to “keep going.”

Vance firmly pushed back against WNBA fans, media and league figures who criticized Cunningham. He referred to her detractors as "some of the worst people in the world" and labeled the public pushback as an attack by "the mob.”

WNBA coaches have been frequently asked to weigh in, with the vast majority publicly opposing Cunningham's stance.

Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase took a strong stance for inclusion, stating, "For me, sports is about belonging... I’m all about women, little girls deserving to play, and that includes trans women."

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve delivered an extensive defense of the protection of trans youth. Reeve drew separate media attention after she was seen wearing a transgender advocacy shirt during a game and reportedly had a sideline discussion trying to "educate" Cunningham.

Cunningham’s own coach, Stephanie White, spoke out broadly against the exclusion of athletes from sports.

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I would say that I'm educated enough from a scientific standpoint. I don't ever believe that exclusion is an answer. I just don't. I do think, when we think about various levels of sport, various governing bodies of sport and things that go into that, as I said, I'm not educated enough at the different levels. I know growing up that I played with the boys all the time. There weren't girls' sports back then,” White said.

There are only a handful of openly transgender athletes competing at the professional or elite international level globally. While thousands of athletes compete professionally, public tracking sources like TransAthlete show that open transgender professionals number fewer than 20.