Fox News Anchor Dismisses Enes Kanter Freedom’s Bid to Join WNBA: ‘Why Are We Trying to Intellectualize This Publicity Stunt?’

Fox News anchor Arthel Neville questioned why her colleagues were trying to “intellectualize” the media firestorm sparked when former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom announced he would attempt to play in the WNBA in a bid to protest the league’s transgender policies.

The exchange on Tuesday’s Outnumbered came as Hudson Institute media fellow Jeremy Hunt spoke out in support of Freedom’s high profile bid to join the women’s league.

Hunt said the WNBA wouldn’t discuss the larger policy issues surrounding Freedom’s WNBA efforts because the league is too timid:

JEREMY HUNT: They don’t want to talk about it because they have no backbone. They have no ability to say 1 plus 1 equals 2. They can’t even do that. So they’d rather make this about this is a publicity stunt and not take him seriously rather than engage in substance. And that’s what many of us were hoping this would lead to.

ARTHEL NEVILLE: Why are we intellectualizing or trying to intellectualize this publicity stunt. This is pathetic, it’s ridiculous. What are these guys even trying to do? I really don’t get it.

HUNT: They’re trying to call out —

KAYLEE MCGHEE: They’re trying to play by the WNBA’s rules.

NEVILLE: Come on, guys. It’s silly.

HUNT: If you have a policy you can’t say what a woman is but yet have two men who are trying to have you back and they’re the ones being silly?

NEVILLE: It’s exhausting. If they want him to be big Willie, he should support and fight for bigger salaries for females and for the coaches. I don’t get this.

The exchange came a day after Freedom appeared on Laura Ingraham, telling the anchor, “I identify as a woman, sure,” during an interview Monday — while bragging he would try to break NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain’s single-game point record if he’s allowed to play in the women’s league.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!