WNBA guard Sophie Cunningham responded to backlash over a social media post with a pointed quote from boxing legend Mike Tyson, after sharing a message about personal responsibility the day after Democrats won big in the midterm elections.
On Wednesday, Cunningham reposted a message from entrepreneur Andy Frisella to her Instagram Story. The post argued that Americans place too much faith in elections and too little in their own ability to improve their lives.
“One of the strangest things about our culture is how much faith we’ve placed in elections to change our lives and how little faith we’ve placed in our own ability to do the same,” Frisella’s post read. “People will spend months arguing about who should lead the country while spending zero time considering how they could better lead themselves … and THAT is a much bigger problem than most people realize.”
Frisella’s message continued, arguing that “politics is downstream of culture” and that changing laws or leaders won’t fix deeper societal problems. “A population of weak, unhealthy, uninformed and dependent people is a hell of a lot easier to control than a population of strong, healthy, educated and self-reliant people,” the post said, closing with the line: “Personal excellence is the Ultimate Rebellion.”
After sharing the post, Cunningham appeared to draw criticism from commenters. She responded by posting a blunt quote from Mike Tyson to her Story: “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”
Cunningham has become a prominent and sometimes controversial voice on and off the basketball court. During the past WNBA season, she drew attention for saying she supports keeping biological men out of women’s sports.
With this latest exchange, Cunningham appeared to be emphasizing shared personal responsibility over partisan division in the aftermath of the midterms, a different tone than some of her fellow WNBA players have struck. She has previously said she tries to stay in the political “middle,” listening to multiple perspectives before forming her own opinions.
