WNBA player Natasha Cloud responded to Enes Kanter Freedom’s criticism in a tweet.
Kanter Freedom had been critical of Cloud after the Washington Mystics guard called the U.S. “trash” following key Supreme Court rulings last week.
Kanter Freedom initially responded to Cloud on Twitter and then on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning, saying he could not believe people “still cannot understand how lucky and blessed they are to be in a country where you can say whatever you want to say and you’re not going to be in jail.”
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A split photo showing Natasha Cloud and Enes Kanter Freedom, left. (Getty Images)
Cloud wrote on Twitter late Wednesday she had “respect” for the NBA player’s “lived experience in his country” and hoped he would have the same for her.
“I have respect for @EnesFreedom lived experience in his country. I would expect him to have the same respect for MY lived experience as a black gay woman in my country. You have no idea what it means to walk my journey or anyone else’s for that matter,” she tweeted.
One person on Twitter responded to Cloud, saying “All the more reason for you two to sit down and collaborate on something to affect positive change in this country. Both your hearts are in the right place — certainly more unites you, than divides!”
Cloud agreed.
Cloud created a stir on Friday when she wrote on Twitter that “Our country is trash in so many ways and instead of using our resources to make it better we continue to oppress Marginalized groups that we have targeted since the beginning of times” and that “Black/brown communities& LGBTQ+ man we are too powerful to still be attacking issues separate.”
Freedom responded by offering Cloud or any others with similar views to go on a trip to experience other countries.
ENES KANTER FREEDOM SWATS NATASHA CLOUD’S ‘TRASH’ US TAKE: ‘YOU DON’T WANNA SEE THE OTHER SIDE’
Washington Mystics’ Natasha Cloud, #9, drives to the basket past Chicago Sky’s Robyn Parks during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
“I am offering her or anyone, whenever their season is over, I will buy their ticket first-class. … I would like to take them to these some of those regimes out there like I said, again, China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, and other ones, and forget about calling them trash. These regimes, you know, you criticize them. You and your family members will be in jail and tortured to death,” said Freedom, adding that Cloud either does not know any better or “worse, she’s just hating on this beautiful country.”
Freedom mentioned how it took WNBA star Brittney Griner to be arrested in Russia for her to realize how great America actually is.
“If you think America is so bad and so trash and so terrible, then leave. But before you leave, please have a phone conversation with your colleague, Brittney Griner. You know, she knows the best. She was the one that’s saying, ‘oh, yeah, this country, we have so many problems, we should not sing national anthem ever again and stuff.’ But then she realizes on the other side what could happen. So that’s why I am telling everyone, just have a conversation with people, experience what these regimes can do.”
Natasha Cloud, #9 of the Washington Mystics, looks on during the game on July 2, 2023 at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. (Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images)
On Saturday, Cloud spoke out again taking aim at those critical of her for her comments. She said those critics needed to come at her with something better than “move to Russia or China.”
“I’m blessed to travel the world for my career. I’ve been in plenty of countries that I would have my human rights, healthcare, free/assisted schooling, don’t have to fear mass shootings or white supremacists, don’t have to be concerned about the highest maternal mortality rates,” she wrote.
“Less police murders, no mass incarceration based on race, adequate minimum wage, rights to my body as a woman, I MEAN I CAN KEEP GOING.
“Cause these are things that America is capable of…and when I say trash this is what I’m referring to. We choose to allow politicians to line their pockets and spit false and hateful ideologies to pit us against each other.
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“America is a business.”
Fox News’ Elizabeth Heckman contributed to this report.
