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Cunningham’s 22-second viral finger point during a moment with Mercury guard DeWanna Bonner became a meme
NEED TO KNOW
- The WNBA Players Association is reportedly denying brands the option to license Sophie Cunningham’s viral finger point
- The player union reportedly said the moment is “derogatory”
- Cunningham said it’s “been fun” to see the meme go viral and said her favorite version is the one of her face on the Statue of Liberty
Sophie Cunningham’s viral finger pointing is stirring the pot.
After the 22-second moment when Cunningham, 29, fiercely pointed her finger at Phoenix Mercury guard DeWanna Bonner went viral last month, Cunningham has embraced the worldwide attention — which saw Cunningham’s face and finger plastered onto iconic images from movies, television and art — as have her fans.
During a youth basketball camp hosted by Cunningham on Sunday, July 19, Fever beat reporter Scott Agnes said, “Every camper gets a photo with Cunningham. And, as you’d expect, they all want to do the signature point.”
Even Brittany Mahomes joined in on the fun, writing, “This post🤣👏🏼🔥,” on the comments of Cunningham’s post of the memes captioned, “👉🏼👆🏼👇🏼👈🏼☝🏼.”
But on Monday, July 20, Darren Rovell reported that the WNBA’s players association is blocking the league’s licensees from using the Cunningham finger point. “The WNBA Players Association is currently prohibiting licensees from using the Sophie point, saying that it is ‘derogatory,’ ” Rovell said on X.
When reached for comment by Front Office Sports, the WNBPA said, “For licensed apparel, we generally do not feature or look to monetize player conduct from a confrontation between our members.”
The association added to FOS that players are “of course free to create and/or license their own product.”
PEOPLE has reached out to the WNBPA for comment.
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Cunningham spoke about the incident on her podcast, co-hosted by former Summer House star West Wilson, and explained how the point went down. “I walked out there and I was literally talking to the ref. Say you’re [Bonner], I was like this with the ref. I was like, ‘Caitlin got [a technical], why didn’t she get one?,’ ” Cunningham said, doing a pointing motion. “I was just kind of pointing, and she was like, ‘Don’t you point at me.’ I was like, ‘Oh, shouldn’t have said that.’ I didn’t say a word.”
Cunningham also joked that it was “the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” and added, “I think it was so dumb. But it was pissing her off, and I couldn’t help myself. I could not. She was losing her s---, and all I was doing was literally pointing.”
Speaking to reporters on July 5, Cunningham was asked how she feels about how viral the moment went. “So goofy, So goofy, like, it’s getting worldwide views now, so it’s just been kind of fun to see,” she said, adding that her mom has “been keeping me up to date on everything.”
“It’s funny,” she continued. “I didn’t even mean for it to blow up like that, but the internet does what the internet does.”
Cunningham also said her favorite of the memes was the Statue of Liberty.
Read the original article on People
