The New York Liberty allegedly tried to change a paid scoreboard message thanking XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey — whose brand has played a small role in the recent anti-trans firestorm swirling around the WNBA sparked by comments from Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham.
The Brooklyn-based Liberty initially accepted a $100 payment from Julie Potter for the Aug. 22 match at Barclays Center against Cunningham’s Fever, which is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. Saturday, Potter told Outkick, according to Fox News Digital.
But the message, “Thank you Jennifer Sey! XX-XY Athletics will Save the Day!!” was later changed, Potter claimed.
“Your scoreboard message for 8/[22] has been modified to: ‘Thank you Jennifer Sey, thank you for all you do for XX-XY Athletics.’ This will run during halftime,” according to an email from the Liberty which Potter showed the outlet.
She paid $100 for the message, which was ultimately refunded, said Potter, who responded to the team: “Unfortunately, this is censorship. My message was approved and payment was accepted. You then changed it without giving me any opportunity to revise or respond, and you did so inside your own 48-hour window.
“Why would I pay to let you speak for me?” she added in her response.
A Sophie Cunningham fan paid to have a message supporting @xx_xyathletics displayed at a New York Liberty game only for the team to alter and censor her original submission.
She tells @JackThompsonFOX the Liberty said they only allow “positive submissions” to be displayed. pic.twitter.com/msDUuzvxGG
— OutKick (@Outkick) August 22, 2026
Sey was an artistic gymnast and seven-time member of the U.S. Olympic Team who was the women’s all-around champ in 1986.
The mom of four runs XX-XY Athletics, which describes itself as “unapologetic” and declares its mission is to “protect women’s sports and spaces.”
Last month, Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton was suspended after confronting a pair of girls sitting courtside at a game against the Fever who were wearing XX-XY shirts holding a sign thanking Cunningham.
Cunningham, 30, created a controversy in July after she told ESPN:
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that.’ I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Potter, a lesbian hip-hop artist, insists on her Instagram that she is “pro-woman” as opposed to anti-trans.
“We’re not anti-anybody and we don’t hate anybody, but the discourse is that if you’re pro woman, you’re anti-trans,” Potter said in a clip posted to her Instagram promoting a planned rally for Cunningham outside Barclays Center ahead of Saturday’s game.
She told Fox she intentionally didn’t include Cunningham’s name on the message.
“I thought that would trigger them,” she said, adding she did her best to follow the team’s rules.
“What did I do wrong? I want a code. I want a violation. I read everything. I read their website. I made sure to follow the rules,” Potter told the outlet.
“I said nothing derogatory. I didn’t even say, ‘Save women’s sports.’ I just said, ‘Shout out to the CEO of a dope company who’s changing the world from my perspective.’ That’s obviously not their perspective, but is this America? Can we have different perspectives?”
The Liberty did not immediately respond to Mediaite’s request for comment.
The post Sophie Cunningham Fan Claims WNBA Team Changed Her Scoreboard Message Thanking XX-XY Athletic’s Jennifer Sey first appeared on Mediaite.
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