There’s never been a trans woman in the history of the WNBA, and Boosie Badazz has suggested he wants it to stay that way in a transphobic post shared on social media.
“Please keep them Juwanna Mans out the WNBA,” he wrote in a post shared on Wednesday (Aug. 5), referring to the 2002 sports comedy about a man impersonating a woman to play basketball after he was suspended from the men’s league. “U was made a man to play against one… Go try out for the NBA n match up against Wemby.”
He suggested that any trans women athletes are “hating on women’s sports” by vying to compete in the category of their gender identity.
“Y’all go too far n it’s sad,” he wrote. “These girls been playing against women they whole life… just look at that girl from France that’s a dam linebacker #straightpride.”
The rapper appeared to be referring to the 34-year-old French transgender basketball player Julie Tétart, who was recently dragged into the ongoing debate on trans athletes even though she doesn’t currently play in the WNBA.
Per Forbes, Tétart’s name entered the debate via OutKick, the Fox News-owned sports outlet. Tétart currently plays for Monaco in the French women’s basketball Ligue 2 and was asked whether she would play in the WNBA if contacted.
She reportedly said she would but that she’s “old” and that there are “far better players” than her in the world of women’s basketball. OutKick later published an article accusing WNBA figures supportive of trans athletes of being “performative.”
Controversy surrounding the acceptance of trans athletes has ramped up after Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham voiced her opposition to trans women competing in women’s sports. She told reporters she believes it’s “kind of common sense” and that she’ll “always believe” trans women don’t have a place in sports.
Fever coach Stephanie White, meanwhile, has appeared to distance herself from Cunningham’s stance and told reporters that she doesn’t believe “exclusion is an answer” to the issue.
In recent years, the topic of trans athletes has become a right-wing boogeyman, with conservatives expressing the fear that trans women will out-compete cis women. The only openly transgender woman in the history of the Olympic Games, weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, didn’t do too well when she competed during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, failing to win a medal.
Boosie has drawn criticism for transphobia in the past, including when he said he would “be checking” if women were trans if they came to his topless pool party.
