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The America First Policy Institute has launched an investigation into Enes Kanter Freedom’s removal from a Chicago Sky game and his subsequent ban from Wintrust Arena. AFPI filed a six-page public-records request Friday with the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the government entity that owns the arena. The request was submitted on Freedom’s behalf under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. "Enes Freedom exercised his constitutional right as an American when he attended the WNBA game in Chicago," AFPI chief legal affairs officer Leigh Ann O’Neill said in a statement. "Today, we launched an investigation, seeking critical documents that will assist in our efforts to ensure that public entities are held accountable when American’s constitutional rights are trampled."
Enes Kanter Freedom might have a new challenge ahead of him, and it’s not playing in the WNBA. Kanter appeared as a guest on “Fox News @ Night” on Thursday evening and was shown a clip of former U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe calling him out on her podcast, saying “Why are you like this?” — to which he responded by issuing her a challenge. “So, Megan Rapinoe, I’m speaking directly to you. After your washed-up career, you’ve been seeking attention, and I will give you that attention because I’m a nice guy,” Freedom said during his Fox News appearance. “… So here I am, I am offering you $5 million to any charity you want. If you beat me 1-on-1 in soccer, I promise you, any charity you want, I will be donating $5 million.”
Fox News: "I am identifying as a woman and I should be allowed to play." Enes Kanter Freedom joined @IngrahamAngle to explain his decision to declare for the WNBA draft, saying he's "just following the rules." The WNBA has faced backlash for not directly addressing the issue of what makes someone a woman for purposes of WNBA eligibility. The former NBA player spoke out one night after he was thrown out of a WNBA game he attended as a fan following a heated courtside exchange with Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
Freedom said the confrontation with Cloud has now made him more determined to pursue a place in the league, especially so he can play her. "If anything, I’m more pumped up," he said. "I cannot wait to go against Natasha now. I think it will be fun for me if I get drafted by any other team. I don’t think Chicago will select me. We know that now. But any other team, I just cannot wait to go against her."
Freedom identified the Fever as his preferred destination and said he would like to play alongside Clark. "I think we need to bring back the modern-day Kobe and Shaq, so I think I’m going with the Indiana Fever, for sure," he said. "Me and Caitlin will be the modern-day Kobe and Shaq."
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And the 6-foot-10 former center intends to play well beyond just one season if the league allows it. "I’m 34 now, and I can go out there and dunk everything," Freedom said. "I watched the game tonight. I feel like every time I touch the ball, I can dunk everything, so the physical advantage obviously is there. I think I can play till 40, 45. I don’t even think there is a limit, as long as I want."
However, Freedom said other former professional players have privately expressed interest in following him. He claimed he was communicating with two former NBA players, three European players and three NBA G League players. "You’ll be shocked, actually, other than one other player that already came out, how many other players I’m actually talking to right now," Freedom said. "There are two former NBA players, three European players and three G League players that I’m currently talking to about this whole thing."
Freedom said Cloud then began using profanity in front of young fans. "She started to yell. She started to use some very heavy language. She started to actually cuss, and I was very shocked that there were a lot of kids and that there were a lot of teenagers at that game," Freedom said. "I just cannot believe that she was just cussing and using those F-bombs in front of all these kids. I’m sure she’s loved in Chicago and many kids are idolizing her and stuff, but that’s not how a WNBA athlete should react."
Footage showed arena staff touching Freedom and sharing intense words with him as he was being escorted out. Freedom said he asked an arena employee not to touch him as he was escorted away from the court. "I told her, ‘First of all, please don’t touch me because I didn’t do anything wrong. I can get myself out of the game,’" he said. "And the second, I was like, ‘Do you guys realize that you guys are only kicking me out of this game because I support women and I try to protect women?’"
Freedom rejected the characterization of his campaign as anti-transgender or anti-LGBTQ. "I want to make that very clear because, unfortunately, many media organizations and many journalists are making me look like I am anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ," he said. "That is wrong. I respect anyone’s personal decision, and I do respect any kind of group out there."
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OutKick reached out to Cloud's rep for further comment. She wasn't made available during the team's postgame press conference. Cloud sent a message to the trans community after the game, in a post on Threads. "To every trans kid/person, You are apart of MY community & tribe. You belong. You’re loved. You’re seen. You’re perfect as you are. & you will always be protected by me," Cloud wrote.
Royce White has done a good job of getting himself into the headlines and on Fox News over the past couple of weeks. What the former NBA first-round draft pick hasn’t done a good job of is winning. At least not when it comes to his run in Minnesota’s Republican Primary for Senate. That vote took place Tuesday night, and White was crushed. Former NFL sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya won the primary with 52.1% of the vote. Adam Schwarze was second with 24%. White came in third with just 11.2% of the vote.
A second former NBA player now says he plans to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft. Just hours after Enes Kanter Freedom announced that he planned to enter, White, who is also running in Minnesota’s Aug. 11 Republican Primary for Senate, told Fox News that he also plans to enter the draft. “I’m transgender. I’m a woman.” White told Fox. “I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I’ll be declaring for the WNBA Draft in 2027 as well.”
