FBI Launches Investigation Into Threatening Messages Sent To Pro-Women In Sports Activist
An office visit made the threats feel real.
Sophie Cunningham’s comments about transgender athletes in women’s sports sparked a genuine firestorm across the WNBA this summer. Rallies formed outside arenas, fan confrontations made headlines, and one league co-owner was suspended over an incident tied to the debate.
Jennifer Sey, founder of the sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics, became one of the most visible figures backing Cunningham’s stance throughout the controversy. Her brand’s shirts have shown up at multiple WNBA games this season, drawing both support and pushback from opposing sides of the issue.
That visibility has apparently come with a much darker cost, according to Sey herself.
Sey Describes A Frightening Escalation In Threats
FBI Director Kash Patel. Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY via Imagn Images
Writing in a Daily Wire op-ed, Sey said the backlash against her has moved well beyond typical online criticism.
“I now have open FBI investigations because of threats to my life and my employees’ lives,” she wrote. “Not mean direct messages, but real threats. Detailed descriptions of what they would do to me, my team, and our kids.”
Sey described one specific incident that pushed her to involve law enforcement directly. “Just last week, a man walked into our offices and demanded a meeting with ‘Jennifer Sey!’” she wrote. “He was dirty, unkempt, and shaking… four terrified women somehow got him out of the building.”
She said an FBI contact advised her to call 911 immediately if anything similar happened again. Sey framed the experience as part of a pattern she’s faced throughout her advocacy career, tracing back to earlier controversies over her stance on pandemic-era school closures.
The Underlying Debate Remains Deeply Contested
AB Hernandez, a transgender athlete (Photo Via X/@JenniferSey)
Sey’s advocacy sits within one of the more polarizing ongoing disputes in professional sports.
Supporters argue biological differences justify excluding transgender women from women’s categories, while a Colorado Times Recorder fact-check piece disputed several specific claims Sey has made publicly and noted that no transgender athletes currently compete in the WNBA.
A separate Mother Jones investigation into Sey’s advocacy work has itself drawn criticism from outlets such as OutKick, which argued that the piece treated a genuine policy debate as a “panic” rather than a legitimate disagreement.
The WNBA itself has navigated the controversy carefully, apologizing after security asked fans wearing XX-XY shirts to cover them up during one game. That responsibility now falls to a lame-duck league office as Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced her retirement on September 4, effective at the end of this year, with no successor yet named.
Sey, meanwhile, has given no indication that the threats will change her approach going forward.
