"Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"
These are the infamous words of King Henry II, just before four of his knights traveled to Canterbury to murder Archbishop Thomas Becket.
It is no accident that The New York Times/The Athletic are now issuing the same wink-wink "non-orders" to the WNBA and Indiana Fever concerning star Sophie Cunningham.
For she, you see, is also "turbulent."
We can't be entirely certain, but we'll give The Athletic the benefit of the doubt here (even though its writers don't deserve it) and say that we don't think the publication is calling for anyone to hew Cunningham into pieces with a sword.
No, they simply want the Fever to cut or trade her. For her heresy, we must presume.
From @TheAthletic: If the Indiana Fever ever wants to go back to being a basketball team, Sophie Cunningham has to go, our columnist writes. "Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with Caitlin Clark." https://t.co/X3eXkxlgDh
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 6, 2026
Who can forget those "turbulent" takes from Cunningham, such as saying that men don't belong in women's sports. And, of course, celebrating her birthday by singing a patriotic American song.
And ... and ... nope, that's pretty much it. That's why she needs to be canceled.
But the article gets much worse. According to The Athletic, Caitlin Clark has too much to deal with because of her evil skin color. She can't afford to have another white woman on the team with her.
Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with Caitlin Clark. On the same team, it’s just too much. Clark, by her presence alone, already can’t get through a season without being thrown into gutter debates that pit White against Black; hate that appears even in the DMs of her own teammates. Cunningham, with only a few words, introduced new divisions.
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Clark's mere "presence alone" is a problem. Gee, we can't guess why that would be.
But The Athletic won't call out the other players who hate Clark because she is white and so much better than they are. Instead, they call out her teammate. A teammate whose job is to protect Clark from her near-nightly muggings from jealous opposing players, and who also might encourage the superstar to grow more of a spine herself when it comes to standing up to the woke mob.
We also probably don't need to tell anyone the race of the author of this latest Cunningham hate article, Candace Buckner.
The WNBA shouldn’t allow white women to play - at least not attractive white women with personalities who are responsible for generating interest in the league.
— 🫃🏼💉🇺🇦🇮🇷🇨🇺Hollaria Briden, Esq. (@HollyBriden) October 6, 2026
Yep. That's exactly the message Buckner is trying to send.
A woman attacking another woman for standing up for women. All Sophie Cunningham said was that biological men should stay out of women’s sports and she answered honestly, something too many of her colleagues are too afraid to do. When Colin Kaepernick, Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, or LeBron James speak out on political issues, they’re celebrated for their courage. @sophaller exercised her First Amendment rights, and now she could potentially be blackballed by the @WNBA. The double standard is obvious.
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) October 6, 2026
... or LeBron James speak out on political issues, they’re celebrated for their courage.
@sophaller exercised her First Amendment rights, and now she could potentially be blackballed by the @WNBA.
The double standard is obvious.
It's as obvious as the deliberate use of the word "turbulent" to describe Cunningham.
Guess who wrote this, you "cis" people?
— Problematic AF™🔥 (@EF517_V3) October 6, 2026
Trashbag @CandaceDBuckner pic.twitter.com/gjGRvOS8f2
Shocked. We're SHOCKED!
Right. It's not the black chicks being jealous, violent, racist bishes. It's the white gal calling them on their crap.
— Lady Hecate 🇺🇲 (@hecate40) October 6, 2026
The WNBA isn't a sports league; it is a platform for woke ideology.
And Buckner isn't a sports journalist; she is a racist Marxist as bad as Jemele Hill.
They should totally get rid of a player that fans come out to see. Because it’s not like it’s a business or anything. They should give out free beer and jerseys while they’re at it. 🙄
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) October 6, 2026
The WNBA is a complete failure as a business. Without the NBA propping it up, the league would have folded when Clark and Cunningham were still in middle school, if not earlier.
Read the whole piece. These people just hate successful, attractive, likable women. It's so obvious.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) October 6, 2026
We read the whole article so our readers don't have to. Riley Gaines is 100 percent accurate about it.
What an embarrassing “hot take”. And beneath it lies a whole lot of rank malice.
— Carilyn Johnson (@CarilynJohnson) October 6, 2026
The malice isn't even subtle. It's right there on the surface.
Even Martina Navratilova, who is about as far left as a person can get (except for also recognizing that men shouldn't be allowed to compete against women), spotted how deranged Buckner's angle on Cunningham is.
@nytimes @TheAthletic Buckner seems to forget the W in @WNBA stand for women. There was nothing wrong with what Sophie said originally. It’s the response from WNBA that made it blow up. The policy is the problem, not Sophie Cunningham
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) October 6, 2026
If even Navratilova thinks it's unhinged, there's a pretty good chance that it's batpoop insane.
White woman has the nerve to call out abusive black women as they gang up on her teammate. The Athletic: Let's get rid of the uppity white woman!
— Lili von Shtupp (@LvS_Redux) October 6, 2026
We see you bishes pic.twitter.com/Gsivq0wcIP
We see right through them, as a matter of fact.
Sophie only has one take which is that women shouldn’t be forced to compete against men. For this she’s being hounded out of basketball?
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) October 6, 2026
Ahh, but that one take demolishes everything the WNBA is built upon, so yes. She must be exiled.
And so the effort to drum Sophie Cunningham out of the league begins in earnest
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) October 6, 2026
Cunningham isn't a superstar like her teammate Clark. She only averages about eight points and a few rebounds per game.
But she is an effective and efficient player, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field for the season and over 40 percent from beyond the three-point line.
And she also knows her role, which is to protect the franchise in Clark.
The leftist media doesn't want her gone because she's not good at basketball. They want her gone because she refuses to bend the knee to the crown.
Exactly like Becket. Cunningham is the new turbulent priest who must be eliminated.
And the WNBA might just be stupid enough to do it.
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Editor’s Note: Hollywood, academia, and liberal elites are out of touch with the average American.
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