On a new episode of the podcast A Touch More, soccer icon Megan Rapinoe addressed a reporter’s controversial question to WNBA draft pick Azzi Fudd about the status of her relationship with teammate Paige Bueckers, calling for the media ecosystem to “evolve and grow in a way that allows for these women to be in the relationships they want to be in.”
While stopping short of outright condemning the question, posed by Dallas Morning News reporter Kevin Sherrington at a Dallas Wings presser last week, Rapinoe noted that “traditional media around women’s sports is just inherently sexist and racist and misogynist.”
Rapinoe attributed the awkwardness of the question to a collision between traditional sports media and the increasing popularity of a women’s sports league in which a majority of players are Black and over a quarter are openly LGBTQ+.
“As it continues to grow, as it continues to become more a part of mainstream culture and media, I do think we are watching legacy or establishment media come in and sort of do business as usual,” she said. “It just feels like it needs more understanding and nuance.”
One part of the answer, per Rapinoe? “That’s going to need to include PR teams and managers and agents and media members that can understand queer culture and have an imagination around how to give these players media platforms that work for them,” she said, noting that the league itself has undergone a long and slow process of embracing its own LGBTQ+ players and fandom.
The comments predictably drew some right-wing ire, but it’s true that covering the modern-day WNBA requires more knowledge of queer culture than ever before, especially as more players come out — and often begin dating each other — within the league. Centering the sport while also acknowledging the unique culture of the WNBA may indeed require a more finely tuned approach than asking for a sapphic relationship update in a press conference rather than, say, a closed-door interview.
“It just feels like it needs more understanding and nuance,” Rapinoe said of the current media environment. “Like, it’s not quite hitting.”
Rapinoe’s thoughts on the subject came at the top of an episode released shortly after she announced her own breakup from retired WNBA legend Sue Bird, with whom she co-hosts A Touch More. In the couple’s split announcement, they shared that they would be releasing six more special episodes of the podcast, trading off hosting duties.
This story was originally published on Them.
