Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, has torn into broadcaster Megyn Kelly for taking what he called a 'cheap shot' at Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark over the WNBA's transgender athletes controversy.
The clash began after Clark gave a guarded answer to reporters on Sunday when asked about teammate Sophie Cunningham, who recently said biological men should not be allowed to play women's sports. Clark shut down two reporters who pressed her on the topic, insisting the team's focus was on basketball.
Kelly took to X afterward to accuse Clark of being a 'coward' for refusing to publicly back Cunningham on the issue of transgender athletes in women's sports.
Portnoy calls out Kelly on X
Portnoy, a self-described Clark superfan, replied on X: 'Absolute moron/idiot to call Caitlin a coward for this answer. 1st of all you don't even know how she feels on this issue and more importantly she doesn't owe it to you or anybody else to be your political talking point. She just wants to play ball.'
He added that it was a 'total coward cheap shot to call her a coward for not being your puppet.'
The dispute marks a swift turn for the pair, who fell out just two months after Portnoy's most recent appearance on Kelly's show.
Kelly defends her remarks
Kelly hit back, telling Portnoy to 'sit this one out' since he had shown no awareness of 'how big a problem' the issue is, citing an estimate from UCLA Law of more than 120,000 transgender athletes at the high school level.
'Understand this however: if it were your daughter suffering brain damage from a boy posing as a girl, you wouldn't care how many others there were,' Kelly wrote. 'One is too many. But watch my show today bc I actually answered your Q civilly and respectfully, unlike your behavior here.'
What Clark told reporters
Clark faced the media after Indiana's loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, a game overshadowed by protesters clashing outside the arena and Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve wearing a pro-transgender shirt on the sideline.
Asked about Cunningham's stance, Clark told a packed media room: 'I think, for us, it's not really a discussion we really have in our locker room. I think it's for leagues and the governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions, but our focus is on basketball. That's what we talk about and how we can get wins, and, obviously, we didn't do that tonight.'
Clark, the Fever's star guard, has been at the center of a surge in WNBA attention since entering the league, and her every public comment tends to draw outsized scrutiny.
Cunningham's comments spark protests
Cunningham recently said young girls 'shouldn't have to go against biological men' when playing sports, and every Fever game since has drawn both pro- and anti-transgender protests inside and outside the arena.
On Sunday, protesters from each side clashed outside the venue, while Reeve was seen in an animated conversation with Cunningham courtside while wearing a shirt reading 'Trans Kids Belong.'
Reeve, who has coached the Lynx for more than a decade and led the franchise to multiple WNBA championships, discussed the exchange in her postgame media session.
'I think it's great,' Reeve said. 'I think both of us understand that we have platforms and we both talked about wanting to, more than anything, educate. There are some things that we have in common, and maybe some things you differ on, just like any issues. I think it's how you handle things. It was nice to be in person, for sure.'
