Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has once again been penalized by the WNBA for publicly criticizing referees, receiving a $1,500 fine for comments made on her podcast.
This latest disciplinary action follows a recent $500 fine issued on July 23 after Cunningham posted a TikTok video lip-synching to lyrics from a Sabrina Carpenter song that described “some refs” as “stupid,” “slow,” or “useless.”
The larger, second fine resulted from remarks on the debut episode of her podcast, “Show Me Something,” on July 30. Cunningham criticized the league’s officiating, claiming she was voicing a common sentiment among players.
“I am someone who says what everyone else is thinking or talking about,” she said on the podcast. “If you ask our league, they feel the same exact way.”
Cunningham questioned the officials’ performance on simple, obvious calls. “When it is a simple call right in front of your face multiple times, what are you doing?” she asked. “They’re just so inconsistent… If you’re on the other team, and you’re going to be fouling the [expletive] out of me, cool. But let me do it to you.”
She also acknowledged the difficulty of the job but maintained that fans and players alike were questioning the state of officiating, adding, “You fining me $500 is not going to do [anything].”
On a subsequent podcast episode, Cunningham confirmed the league had issued the $1,500 penalty. She recounted being informed by the team’s general manager, expressing frustration.
“I even told them I credited them that their job was hard,” Cunningham said. “I did say that. I said that I would not be good at it… Like, look at the whole picture. What are we doing?”
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