Megan Rapinoe calls Enes Kanter Freedom a ‘bad-faith actor’ over ‘protect women’ comments

Megan Rapinoe used her podcast this week to tear into Enes Kanter Freedom, mocking the former NBA player’s insistence that he attended a recent WNBA game to “protect women” and branding him and others who share his opposition to transgender participation in women’s sports as “bad-faith actors.”

The former U.S. women’s national soccer team star addressed the controversy on the latest episode of her “Why Are You Like This?” podcast, days after Freedom was escorted out of Wintrust Arena during the third quarter of a Chicago Sky-Indiana Fever game and subsequently banned from Sky home games following a confrontation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.

According to Fox News’s OutKick, Sky officials said security and Chicago police determined Freedom posed a threat, leading to his removal. Freedom later told OutKick that Cloud approached him during the incident, and he responded that he was there to “protect women,” a line Rapinoe seized on.

“He later, in continuing the absolute grift that was this whole thing, gave some quotes to OutKick Sports and Fox News — no surprise there. Saying that he was just out there to protect women. Well, oh my God, thank you so much because that’s what we were asking for,” Rapinoe said, according to a mocking retelling published by OutKick.

She continued, arguing that Freedom and like-minded critics were themselves the ones “forcing their way into WNBA spaces,” and drew a comparison to opposition to women’s athletics decades ago: “You’re the same people who were banning people from playing soccer in the 1950s. You’re the same type of people.”

Rapinoe went further, saying that opposition to transgender participation in women’s sports has, in her view, moved beyond online criticism into organized, in-person activity. “This is not the same old story of, ’Well, this is just online, or it’s just trolls, it’s just bots.’ No, it’s actually happening. They’re doing rallies before the game, they’re coming onto the court. They’re buying tickets. They’re in there — they’re not just trolls. They’re showing up in real life,” she said, using that shift to justify labeling the broader opposition movement as bad-faith.

She also argued the increased scrutiny of women’s sports has tracked with the leagues’ rising popularity, saying critics are now paying attention because “they’re seeing the success and the power the league has … So, now they really care.” Rapinoe closed by insisting, “we do not need men in the WNBA, or women’s sports in general, to make it successful.”

Freedom has pushed back on the characterization that he’s anti-trans, telling OutKick in an earlier interview, “I am not anti-trans, I’m not anti-LGBTQ, I’m just pro-woman.” He appeared courtside at the Sky-Fever game wearing a T-shirt printed with the definition “WOMAN noun. adult human female,” shortly before his altercation with Cloud.

Freedom has since responded to Rapinoe on Fox News, where he called her career “washed,” accused her of seeking attention and challenged her to a one-on-one soccer match — promising to donate $5 million to a charity of her choice if she wins.