Brianna Turner alleges Fever players were told to hush about sexual harassment case last year
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- WNBA veteran Brianna Turner says the Indiana Fever fired a male staffer for sexual harassment last season and urged players to stay silent.
- The Fever issued a broad statement about protecting employees but declined to address Turner’s claims, highlighting tensions over transparency in professional sports amid growing scrutiny of abuse.
- Turner made the allegations as she advocated for the inclusion of transgender women athletes in women’s sports.
WNBA veteran Brianna Turner said on social media this week that the Indiana Fever fired a male staff member for sexual harassment last season and encouraged players not to speak about the matter.
Turner, who played for Indiana last year and is now a member of the Las Vegas Aces, provided no other details about any alleged incidents. The Fever issued a statement Thursday but did not directly address Turner’s allegations.
“Protecting our players and employees and maintaining a respectful, professional workplace is our top priority,” the Fever said in its statement. “Our policy is to take concerns seriously, investigate thoroughly, and act promptly when appropriate to protect the people in our organization and ensure everyone is treated with professionalism and respect. Fostering trust and safety in that process means we do not comment on personnel matters involving former employees.”
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who is sometimes referred to as ‘MAGA Barbie,’ has doubled down on her opinion that ‘biological men’ shouldn’t participate in women’s sports.
Turner made her comments Wednesday in an X thread in which she defended the right of transgender women to participate in women’s sports. “So many takes about them are based on fear mongering and bigotry,” Turner wrote.
Her posts came a day after an ESPN article quoted Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, Turner’s former teammate, saying she wants “to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
“A tiny minority of the population identifies as trans, yet they are always a trending topic unfortunately. I’m in my 8th season as a WNBA player,” wrote Turner, who did not mention Cunningham in her posts. “To date there’s been one out trans player in the league. They caused zero problems.”
She continued: “An issue that has caused problems though? Last year on my WNBA team a male staff member was fired for sexual harassment, but we were encouraged to keep quiet about it. That is an issue. Sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and racism are all issues.”
Alyssa Thomas says she has received racist threats and abuse since her foul involving Caitlin Clark. Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White says that’s ‘absolutely unacceptable.’
Turner spent her first five seasons with Phoenix, then one with Chicago before going to the Fever last year. For those just becoming familiar with her and her beliefs this week, Turner reposted something she wrote a couple years ago.
“If you are new here, I am a vocal ally of the trans community,” Turner wrote on X in 2024. “If that bothers you, don’t hesitate to mute or block me. I don’t have the capacity or patience to debate with internet strangers as to why they should be considerate of marginalized communities.”
In April, Turner penned an opinion piece for USA Today in which she harshly criticized the newly adopted policy by the International Olympic Committee that excludes transgender women athletes from competing at the Olympics, starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Eligibility for women’s competition at the 2028 L.A. Olympics and beyond will be determined by a one-time genetics test through saliva, a cheek swab or a blood sample.
“Policies that single out transgender women and athletes with intersex variations do not protect women’s sports,” Turner wrote. “They manufacture a scapegoat while the real challenges to women’s sports go unaddressed: unequal funding, limited access to training and facilities, pay disparities, male-dominated leadership, gender-based violence and harassment across race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.”
On Wednesday, Cunningham said she has nothing against the transgender community but stands by the comments she made in the ESPN article.
“When it comes to just protecting young girls in sport and women in sport, I feel very strongly about that,” Cunningham told reporters. “That’s why you have Title IX. That’s why you have some of the greats in women’s sports. If Title IX and women’s sports weren’t protected, then you wouldn’t hear about any type of women in sport.”
A Hilton Grand Vacations employee was fired after Aces star Chelsea Gray shared a racist DM he allegedly sent to her, weeks after Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas said she’s receiving abusive messages.
Last year, President Trump signed an executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” that looked to ensure that entities receiving federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with his administration’s view that a person’s sex is the gender they were assigned at birth.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke Thursday in support of Cunningham and her opinions on the matter.
“We want to protect women and girls,” Leavitt said, “and the backlash she is receiving from Democrats and left-wing figures across the country is astonishing.”
