The WNBA has had to clarify its stance on Sophie Cunningham after the Indiana Fever guard’s name was banned from the r/WNBA subreddit.
WNBA fans who went over to discuss the league on Reddit discovered that the leading r/WNBA subreddit had banned mentions of the 30-year-old Fever guard.
This was done to limit non-basketball chatter on the subreddit after hordes of new Cunningham fans flooded the subreddit after she recently publicised her belief that the WNBA should ban trans athletes.
WNBA issue statement after confusion over Sophie Cunningham’s r/wnba ban
With fan backlash being aimed at the WNBA over this Cunningham ban on r/wnba, the league had to come out with a clarification statement to disclose that they have no affiliation with the subreddit.
“The WNBA does not moderate or have any affiliation with the r/WNBA subreddit.”
Fans discovered the ban on mentioning Sophie Cunningham when they were unable to post her name on the subreddit to wish her for her 30th birthday.
Moderators justified the auto-filtering ban on Sophie comments because of an influx of non-WNBA Sophie fans on the subreddit, stirring up political discussions over her stance on trans athletes.
Cunningham’s fans are feeling more justified in rallying behind the Fever guard, while the moderators are under fire for limiting open discussion.
Cunningham is averaging 8.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists over the season and scored three points in 33 minutes in the Fever’s Sunday night win against the Atlanta Dream on her birthday.
Her performances are not requiring major basketball discussion, so the moderators decided to blanket-ban her name on the subreddit to keep conversations focused on the basketball.
Clearly, a manual review to limit posts on Sophie’s political views might have been better than just banning all mentions of her name.
The WNBA has made it clear that they are playing no part in this, as they are already receiving intense backlash over all the off-court issues that have plagued the league this season.
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