NEW YORK — Natasha Cloud did not want to speak specifically about her verbal altercation with Enes Kanter Freedom. That, however, didn’t stop her from addressing the topic at large.
“I won’t be talking about anything that will happen with an irrelevant person,” Cloud said Saturday ahead of the team’s game against the New York Liberty, her first time speaking to the media since Sunday’s altercation with the former NBA player in Chicago.
Cloud said she would rather speak about issues that “actually affect women and children,” listing out sexual assault, food insecurity, and the ongoing war in the Middle East as some examples.
“There’s so many other things that we can focus on that actually have immediate impact on women and children that we say we’re trying to protect right now, that we are being distracted,” Cloud said.
The WNBA has been in the middle of a culture war in recent weeks surrounding gender eligibility, specifically about trans women playing the sport. It started after ESPN published an article in July where Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham 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.”
Since then, Freedom is one of two former NBA players (along with Royce White) that have declared for the WNBA draft, claiming they identify as women. League sources told FOS on Monday that the two former NBA players are not eligible based on the league’s current eligibility rules. No trans players born male at birth have played in the WNBA’s 30-year history.
Freedom attended the Sky’s game Sunday in Chicago against the Indiana Fever and sat courtside by the baseline. He was removed from the arena late in the third quarter after he and Cloud exchanged words.
Cloud said she believes the culture war surrounding the WNBA is an “intentional distraction.”
“The more that we hate each other, the more that we have bias against each other, the more we’re going to be distracted from real life issues that are plaguing our communities,” Cloud said.
She also suggested that the league is being used as a platform for conservatives with the midterm elections coming up later this year.
“We are a microcosm of a bigger issue that is our society. And we wouldn’t allow our league to be used as a pawn for any political or cultural wars that the right side wants. We’re absolutely not going to,” Cloud said.
Cloud pointed the finger at men, saying they are the main demographic attacking the WNBA and trans community.
“The men now who are like, ‘Oh we need to protect the WNBA.’ Ya’ll are the same ones who are saying we shouldn’t have been paid,” she said. “Ya’ll were the same ones saying that we shouldn’t have been invested into. Ya’ll are the same ones saying that we’re a joke. … If you’re going to protect women, that includes all women. That includes black women, trans women, and the list goes on and on and on. So that root of the issue is? Men.”
She clarified after: “And we love ya’ll men that stand with standards cause there is a standard.”
WNBA Ban?
Cloud commended the Sky organization for banning Freedom from the team’s home games following the incident, and she wants the WNBA to do the same across all WNBA games.
On Monday, Sky owner Michael Alter spoke to Chicago-based reporters, including Front Office Sports, in a rare press conference and announced Freedom’s ban. He also showed his support for the decision of security and Chicago police to remove Freedom from the arena, saying Freedom “turned himself into a threat” after he stepped toward the baseline from his courtside seat.
“Michael goes and bans and that’s immediate action,” Cloud said Saturday ahead of the team’s game against the New York Liberty. We’re asking for protection and that’s what protection looks like from a man. That’s what protection looks like from men.”
She added: “I hope the WNBA follows their lead as well.”
But the WNBA has no plan of issuing a league-wide ban for Freedom, a league source told FOS on Monday.
The WNBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
