Since June 25, Fox News has devoted at least 13 hours and 34 minutes of programming to the WNBA, much of which criticized the league over issues pertaining to race and trans inclusion in women’s sports. The deluge of coverage started as assertions that WNBA star Caitlin Clark had been targeted for being white, but it has devolved into an argument over trans inclusion in the WNBA, a league which currently has no trans players. 

The network has dedicated more than 8 hours of coverage in the past month to the issue of trans athletes in the WNBA, airing segments on Sophie Cunningham, her comments about trans inclusion, and the fallout.
 

On June 25, a hard foul by Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas against Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark set off what has become a monthslong firestorm of coverage of the WNBA by Fox News. The foul — and subsequent comments by Clark's teammate Sophie Cunningham about trans women in women's sports — brought extensive focus to the WNBA across Fox News. Much of this coverage followed a familiar Fox playbook, fanning the flames of racial tension, and centering debate around hypothetical trans athletes in the WNBA and in women's sports as a whole.
 

A foul on Caitlin Clark becomes a debate on race

Fox News seized on the June 25 foul by Thomas against Clark, dedicating over 3 hours and 30 minutes of coverage across 62 segments to the foul.

Fox hosts and anchors were quick to situate the foul within a larger network narrative of anti-white racism in the WNBA. Anchor Harris Faulkner teased a segment about the foul, stating, “When you see it, it looks like violent crime. … Is race a part of this?” On The Five, host Greg Gutfeld stated, “I'm sure if this were in hockey and white players were targeting a Black star because he's Black and best in the league, it would be global news. So I think there is an atmosphere here that's been created since the summer of Floyd that excuses racism coming from Black to white,” while host Tomi Lahren claimed that animus against Clark stemmed from the fact that “she’s straight, and she's white and she's better than a lot of the others players who might not be straight and might not be white. … You’re beating up on her because she’s white.”

Extensive coverage of the fouls against Clark continued through July, when a USA Today op-ed criticizing her for flopping and comparing subsequent reactions to the lynching of Emmett Till drew outrage.

Fox uses Sophie Cunningham to push anti-trans narratives

Comments made by Cunningham about protecting “young girls in sports who shouldn’t have to go against biological men” further amplified Fox’s focus on the WNBA, sending the network into a frenzy and prompting over 8 hours of coverage focused on issues regarding trans athletes from July 22 through August 11.

Since July 22, Fox has dedicated at least 130 segments to discussing the possibility of trans athletes in the WNBA, with at least one segment every day except July 28. Fox's opinion shows have discussed the topic ad nauseum: Fox and Friends across their weekday and weekend programming dedicated 34 segments to the topic, while The Ingraham Angle and Hannity drove Fox's evening coverage of the issue with 9 and 6 segments respectively.

Coverage hasn't been limited to Fox's opinion side. There have been at least 15 segments by Fox correspondents and reporters on trans athletes in the WNBA, and overall at least 44 segments on Fox's “news-side” programming.

Cunningham's statement sparked discussion over a series of stories related to trans athletes that have driven Fox's coverage for weeks. On top of her initial comments, a co-owner of the Seattle Storm confronted supporters of Cunningham outside of a game; a French trans athlete said she would be open to joining the WNBA (after Fox affiliate Outkick specifically asked her); Fox News contributor Clay Travis proposed a WNBA team comprised of “biological men” called the “Nashville Balls”; and former NBA Players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White declared their intention to sign up for the WNBA draft.

Fox personalities — while repeatedly framing their coverage around ostensibly protecting women in sports — frequently denigrated the WNBA, suggesting that the league has low viewership and criticizing it for not taking advantage of the attention brought on by the Cunningham controversy.

The volume of Fox’s WNBA coverage has even surprised some of the network’s own hosts; during one segment on the league, primetime host Jesse Watters complained, “I don’t want to cover women’s basketball. … We have to do this again, really?”

Others, however, were delighted with the sophomoric proposals from Clay Travis to start a team called the “Nashville Balls,” and Enes Kanter and Royce White's attempts to get their names in discussion of the WNBA, with anchor Sandra Smith declaring it as a "genius move." 

Fox’s culture war WNBA fixation  

In August, a hard foul by Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington on Cunningham gave Fox the opportunity to weave together two of the network’s narratives: A league embroiled in a racial culture war and a star under attack for speaking out against trans athletes.

Speaking about the foul against Cunningham and Carrington’s later social media post, Fox personality Tyrus called Carrington “a hateful person” and a “liar,” claiming, “She took an opportunity to take a shot on someone based on the color of their skin and her belief system, which I thought in America we were against. And it just so happens she did it against a white person. And for some reason in this country, it has become fashionable to be racist against white people and get a pass.”

Fox News, which in the past has attacked women's basketball and the WNBA, has dedicated a large part of their summer programming to embedding coverage of the league with battle-tested right-wing culture war topics. Saturating the airwaves with coverage of trans athletes is familiar terrain for Fox; notably, they also centered the topic in the lead up to the 2024 election.

Fox’s quick shift from focusing on Caitlin Clark and alleged race issues to instead obsessing over Sophie Cunningham and the hypothetical inclusion of trans athletes in the WNBA shows the network’s eagerness to stir up culture war issues as President Donald Trump flails in polls pertaining to the actual news of the day, such as the Iran war and the economy. Instead of focusing on important matters, the network is latching on to anything that will galvanize the increasingly fractured Republican base.
 

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “WNBA,” “Caitlin Clark,” “Sophie Cunningham,” “Alyssa Thomas,” “DiJonai Carrington,” “Julie Tétart,” “Enes Kanter,” “Royce White,” “Indiana Fever,” “Phoenix Mercury,” “Chicago Sky,” or “women's basketball” from June 25, 2026, when the Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas received a Flagrant 2 foul and a one-game suspension for making contact with Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark, through August 11, 2026.

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when the WNBA or its players was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the WNBA or its players. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the WNBA or its players with one another.

We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the WNBA or its players without another speaker engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the WNBA or its players scheduled to air later in the broadcast.

We also included the following trans-athlete controversies: when ESPN quoted Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham's anti-trans sentiment in an online article, when Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark answered a question about trans athletes, when former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White each wrote letters to enter the WNBA draft, and when French trans player Julie Tétart responded to a question about playing in the WNBA.

We included the following foul controversies: when Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas received a Flagrant 2 foul and a one-game suspension for making contact with Clark, when Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington received a Flagrant 2 foul penalty for making contact with Cunningham, and when the USA Today published an op-ed about Clark.

We considered all other WNBA stories as “other.”

We rounded all reported times to the nearest minute.