{"id":879068,"date":"2026-09-04T00:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879068\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:30:10","slug":"enes-kanter-files-federal-lawsuit-over-wnba-game-ousting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879068\/","title":{"rendered":"Enes Kanter files federal lawsuit over WNBA game ousting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enes Kanter Freedom filed a federal lawsuit in Illinois on Thursday over the way he says he was mistreated at a WNBA game last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former Boston Celtics center sued the Chicago Sky, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the City of Chicago, alleging all three entities unjustly had him booted from the Sky vs. Fever game<\/a> on Aug. 23 at Wintrust Arena.<\/p>\n

Former basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom and Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky yell at one another during the second half of a game between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever on Sunday, August 23, 2026, at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Freedom stated in his suit that he believed the trio of defendants had it out for him after he had spent a large portion of the summer declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft while publicly railing against the idea of biological men playing in women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

Freedom said he did nothing out of line while attending the now-infamous Sky vs. Fever game, yet he claimed he was nonetheless wronged at the venue.<\/p>\n

Former basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom poses for a photo courtside prior to the game between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever on Sunday, August 23, 2026, at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Freedom wore a shirt that read, \u201cWOMAN noun, adult human female,\u201d which he insisted did not violate the WNBA Fan Code of Conduct. He also said that while he did stand and raise his arms during the game, it was merely to celebrate a 3-point basket by Sophie Cunningham, a Fever superstar who previously made headlines for her stance on barring trans athletes from women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

However, in the third quarter, he alleged Sky guard Natasha Cloud \u201cwithout provocation, initiated a vulgar, profanity-laced verbal tirade\u201d at him.<\/p>\n

She \u201ccharged nearly half the length of the court toward where Plaintiff Freedom was sitting courtside,\u201d Freedom\u2019s lawsuit stated. \u201cCloud cursed and yelled at Plaintiff saying that Ms. Cunningham was not going
to sleep with Plaintiff Freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiff Freedom believes that Cloud\u2019s attack was motivated and triggered by the message on Plaintiff\u2019s shirt and Plaintiff\u2019s widely publicized viewpoint on protecting the integrity of women only sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud argues with former NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom, right, during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Indiana Fever on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, in Chicago. AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh<\/p>\n

Freedom said he did not respond back other than to say, \u201cI\u2019m not trying to sleep with her. I\u2019m just here to protect women and support her.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Freedom alleged that members of the Sky, the MPEA and the City of Chicago all \u201ccombined and conspired to eject\u201d him from the matchup. He then alleged the trio played roles in later issuing him an indefinite ban from the arena.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s suing all three for retaliation in violation of the first amendment and violation of the first amendment.<\/p>\n

Former basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom and Natasha Cloud of the Chicago Sky yell at one another during the second half of a game against the Indiana Fever at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Sunday, August 23, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chicago Sky; MPEA, through Wintrust Arena Security; and the City of Chicago, by its Police Department, worked together to eject Plaintiff in retaliation for protected expression, and continue to work together to enforce the ongoing, unconstitutional ban of Plaintiff from Wintrust Arena, which is public property owned by MPEA,\u201d Freedom\u2019s lawsuit stated.<\/p>\n

Freedom is asking for, among other things, unspecified damages as well as \u201ca permanent injunction following a full hearing, directing Defendants to lift their prohibition on Plaintiff\u2019s attendance at Wintrust Arena.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to agree with my speech,\u201d Freedom wrote on Thursday in announcing his lawsuit on his X page, \u201cbut you don\u2019t get to silence me for it. I will not be intimidated. I will not be silenced. I will continue to stand for women and defend free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enes Kanter Freedom filed a federal lawsuit in Illinois on Thursday over the way he says he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,485,304513,85,5941],"class_list":["post-879068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-california","tag-enes-kanter","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}