Sophie Cunningham has won a lot of supporters away from the hardwood this month thanks to her comments on transgender athletes, but just as she has doubled-down, one of her closest friends since childhood in Columbia, Missouri has declared he isn't on her bandwagon.
West Wilson, Cunningham's friend since high school, serves as her co-host on the Show Me Something podcast. Over the weekend, he posted a viral TikTok video in defense of trans athletes.
"Transgender athletes in American sports is such a borderline non-existent issue. Right-wingers have convinced a massive portion of people in our country that these people are, like, a threat to sports in America, when mathematically itās not the case at all," said Wilson, 31. Fans of the reality show Summer House may remember Wilson as one of the housemates. And just like on TV, he's not shy about his opinion on this divisive issue.
"By continuing to platform this, fucking politicians, athletes, journalists, news outlets, youāre only isolating transgender people even more by making them seem like this giant group of people is a threat to society, a threat to sports, when thatās just not proportionately the truth in any capacity.ā
While not addressing Cunningham directly, he made it clear he thinks rants like hers are "dumb."
āThereās like 10 transgender athletes in all the NCAA. I think there are unique questions that can be handled on [an] individual basis, but to allow this to take attention away from housing, healthcare, and wars and all the other actual harmful shit in our country is dumb.ā
The true number, NCAA president Charlie Baker told Congress in 2024, is fewer than 10, as The Advocate reported.
Wilson, a former high school and college football player, now works as a social and editorial producer at Complex, according to his LinkedIn. So, Wilson knows a thing or two about how the media works, but his video has drawn its own backlash on TikTok.
"Said by a man who has a long history of not caring about women," commented Sarah Cooper. "it doesnāt affect you, but it does affect many young women in their experience in sports."
"Ah yes a man telling women that have to shut up on this issue," added Nicole Calvin. "It effects every biological women in sports."
A few respondents tagged Cunningham and suggested they discuss it on their podcast by supporting West's position.
"I understand this viewpoint," said Alondra Lopez. "The big picture is still that itās *almost* a nonissue. The amount of transgender athletes competing at a higher level is astronomically low. And the 'gender tests' that are being proposed are much more traumatic and unfair than anything the cis athletes would go through competing with trans athletes."
In reporting on Wilson's TikTok video, Us Weekly clarified for its readers the facts about this issue:
"In addition to the low number of transgender athletes in sports, thereās also no conclusive evidence that transgender women have a tangible advantage over their cisgender counterparts." The report cited a study funded in part by the IOC and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2024, as reported by The Advocate, that found several disadvantages for trans women, including poorer lower-body strength and lung function.
Although the Show Me Something podcast bills itself as posting new episodes twice a week, there hasn't been a new episode since June. We'll be watching and listening to see if Cunningham and Wilson hash it out on their next episode.
