{"id":1046462,"date":"2026-09-06T07:06:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T07:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046462\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T07:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T07:06:48","slug":"chicago-sky-owner-calls-enes-kanter-freedoms-lawsuit-meritless-and-frivolous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046462\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Sky owner calls Enes Kanter Freedom\u2019s lawsuit \u2018meritless and frivolous\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter called a lawsuit filed against his team by former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom<\/a>, a vocal opponent of transgender athletes\u2019 participation in women\u2019s sports, \u201cmeritless and frivolous\u201d while vowing Friday to fight the suit in court.<\/p>\n

Freedom\u2019s lawsuit, filed Thursday by attorneys from the America First Policy Institute in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges the Sky ejected him<\/a> while he was \u201cpeacefully exercising\u201d his right to free speech at an Aug. 23 game between the Sky and Indiana Fever.<\/p>\n

Freedom sat courtside at the game<\/a> wearing a T-shirt that read \u201cWOMAN noun. adult human female.\u201d In the third quarter, Sky guard Natasha Cloud approached him, and the two exchanged words. When Freedom stepped toward the court, security intervened and led him away before ejecting him from the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom\u2019s claim that he was removed from Wintrust Arena due to his speech is false,\u201d Alter said in a statement released Friday. \u201cAs his own complaint acknowledges, he wore the shirt in question for multiple hours without any contact with security. Security removed Freedom only after he violated fan code of conduct by rising from his seat, gesturing at a player, and stepping toward the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom was removed for his conduct, not his speech. We look forward to the truth prevailing in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sky\u2019s fan code of conduct states that the team and arena \u201creserves the right to eject any patron that poses a threat to themselves or other guests. This includes, but not limited to, profanity, racial or ethnic comments, intoxication, disorderly conduct, drug use, sexual harassment, or other intimidating actions directed at officials, players, coaches, spectators, or team representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sky banned Freedom indefinitely<\/a> shortly after the Aug. 23 incident, though Alter later said the franchise might reconsider Freedom\u2019s ban \u201cif someday he\u2019s able to demonstrate he\u2019s capable of being at a game and conducting himself in compliance with our rules and not be a threat to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freedom recently attempted to declare for the 2027 WNBA draft in a protest against trans women competing in the league, claiming in an X post that his actions \u201cstand for women and defend free speech.\u201d The league confirmed he is not eligible<\/a> to play in the league, stating, \u201cThere are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his lawsuit, Freedom is seeking a declaration that his First Amendment rights were violated, that his indefinite ban from Wintrust Arena be lifted and that his legal fees are covered, as well as \u201can award of nominal and compensatory damages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cloud, who called Freedom \u201cirrelevant\u201d<\/a> in her first media availability after the altercation, said there are bigger problems facing the WNBA and women\u2019s sports than trans athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men now that are like \u2018Oh, we need to protect the WNBA,\u2019 y\u2019all were the same ones saying we shouldn\u2019t be paid,\u201d Cloud said at the time. \u201cY\u2019all were the same ones saying we shouldn\u2019t have been invested in, saying we\u2019re a joke, the same ones that don\u2019t respect Black women.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if you\u2019re going to protect women, that means all women. That includes Black women, trans women, and the list goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter called a lawsuit filed against his team by former NBA player Enes Kanter…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1046463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[1497,62,222,67,132,68,232],"class_list":["post-1046462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-chicago-sky","tag-sports","tag-sports-business","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117222833253228177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}