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July 22, 2025 14 mins

WNBA players are wearing “Pay Us What You Owe Us” shirts but what are they really owed? Buck Sexton weighs in on the controversy, joined by former Division I athlete Paula Scanlan of the American Principles Project. As a swimmer who competed alongside Riley Gaines and shared a team with Lia Thomas, Paula brings a unique perspective on women’s sports, fairness, and what’s driving the latest backlash.

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Speaker 1 (00:11):
You're listening to the Buck Sexton Show podcastle make sure
you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts. W NBA players say that
they should be paid what they're owed. What are they owed? Well,
I'm a guy, so maybe I'm not allowed to weigh
in on this because it's women's athletics. Although I guess
I could identify as of them, but that's a whole

(00:33):
other conversation. Let's bring somebody in here who can bring
a female perspective to this. Uh, and it's somebody who
also swam at the Division one level. Paula Scanlon is
with us. She is of the American Principals Project and
was on the same team where that guy became a
quote girl and then won the championship and now Trump
has turned that around. We'll get into that, but first, so,

(00:56):
what's with the I know you're not a basketball you're
you're all. You're tall, so maybe you were good at basketball.
I don't know, but I don't think you played in
the w NBA to my knowledge, what's with the pay
us what you owe us? T shirt? As one woman athlete,
looking at all these women athletes now in the WNBA,
what's going on?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know?

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I wish I could understand what was going on. Obviously,
Caitlin Clark is a huge star and does deserve awards.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
And honor and money with that.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
But we live in a capitalist society, and if there's
not viewership in the WBA, there's not money going into
the WNBA. Players can't be paid more. And from my
understanding is they're heavily subsidized by the NBA and other
sports leagues. How can they expect to be paid more.
If they're paid their fair share, their salaries would actually
get cut.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
So none of this makes any sense to me.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
And I still don't understand what exactly they were protesting
in this T shirt wearing situation.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
That was happening the other week.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
And to be honest, I've never watched a single WNBA
game in my entire life.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Really really interesting, I haven't either, But I don't know.
I felt like, maybe you know, girl power, like you
would decide that you got to watch the female athletes.
It is. It is funny because now I see I
don't know, have you ever see this on Twitter x?
Most of the clips circulating of WNBA like highlight clips
that you'll see are actually women in the WNBA, like

(02:19):
shooting the ball off the top of the backboard, or
you know, missing three layups or four layups in a
row or stuff like that. So it's it's getting talked
about more than it has in the past. But somehow
it has become something of a point of contention among people.
Right there seems to be some irritation that I don't

(02:39):
know at the sense of entitlement that these players have,
but they're supposed to, Like, I know, professional I know
guys who play professional lacrosse, and I think they make
you know, most of them have other jobs, so that
tells you all you need to know. Like they play
seasonal professional lacrosse and they make almost no money doing
this very little money, and they don't say, pay us
what you owe us.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
That's actually so funny.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
I think I know a couple of guys that play
professional lacrosse as well. I mean that it shows that
if you want to do your sport, you absolutely should.
I think women should have an operatnity to have professional leagues.
I think the WNBA existing is obviously a good thing.
I'm always here to advocate for women only leagues, but
that being said, we can't just make money you can
get free handouts. You can't get free payouts from the

(03:23):
government for this, And that's exactly what this is, is
just the liberal mentality that everything needs to be handed
you for free. Because you want something, someone has to
give it to you. And unfortunately for the WMA, that's
not going to happen.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
And it's just so upsetting to see that.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
And they're discouraging other female athletes, and they make female
athletes look whiny and complainy. Just go in be good athletes,
become a Caitlin Clerk, become a key player. And many
of these great WNBA players, like Kitlyn Clerk, like some
of the other stars, they have a lot of money
that they make in sponsorships and deals that far outweigh
any amount that the league could pay them.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
And that's the same thing goes for male athletes as well.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
So I feel like if you're so concerned about your pay,
either yes, you have to get another job, or you
have to find sponsorships. And there are a lot of
places that are willing to sponsor these athletes. It's not
like they were starving and not able to survive on
their current salaries.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
So now you you were on the swim team, right,
the same swim team as Riley Gaines, and the swim
team that was that became the team with us what's
the what's his name? Leah Thomas formerly something else Thomas, Right,
the guy who became the girl who's not really a girl,
but he's swimming against you guys, and he ends up

(04:36):
like winning the national championship the whole thing. Trump has
bring everyone up to speed on this one, because this
has got to feel like life has come full circle
and maybe finally justice at some level or it begins
to be done here. What did Trump do? It looks
like things have changed with you, penn.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yes, exactly that.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
I mean the Trump administration pulled federal funding from the
University of Pennsylvania for not complying with Title nine. I mean, yeah,
they led a dude on my women's swim team in
our locker room eighteen times per week. Insanity, rightfully, so
they were pulled with federal funding. But the Trump administration
then said, okay, well, if you're willing to change your policies,
we can have a conversation. The University of Pennsylvania then

(05:14):
caved had a discussion with the Trump administration said we
will comply with titleline. We are going to change our
policies to properly reflect that. I mean, they should have
been doing that to begin with, but here we are.
Another thing is they agreed to change the record boards.
The University of Pennsylvania no longer has Leah Thomas as
a record holder on the women's team. And then on

(05:35):
top of that, they were forced to send us an apology.
It was not quite an apology that I would deem acceptable,
but having to do that all together makes them admit
that they were in the wrong. And so this was
a great historic win. And honestly, we've never seen anything
like this. We've never seen any of the universities that
have put female athletes through this clawback and change their
mind and do any of this. So it's a great

(05:55):
first start, but obviously a lot more work needs to
be done. And there are still universities that are allowing
men onto their women's sports teams, so we have to
fight against them as well.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
So this is still happening. There are places that what
are are they essentially waiting to see if the trumpet
minute drops the hammer on their athletics program. Or their
funding for the whole university. Is Trump having to play
whack them mole with this issue?

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Honestly a little bit. I mean we've seen that, but
we've also seen other issues. I mean, I know Harvard,
not necessarily with a transgender issue, although they probably should
go after Harvard for that as well, because Lea Thomas
actually holds three records at the Harvard pool as well
that are still up on the board, and you can
go over to Cambridge, Massachusetts and see Leah Thomas on
the women's side of the record board.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
But they've pushed back at the Trump administration.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
They're not willing to negotiate, So it's really dependent on school.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
We know.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
San Jose State also infamously allowed a male athlete on
their volleyball team. The Trump administration hasn't been able to
get them to either apologize to their female athletes or
correct some of the records. I'm not sure how you
quite do that in volleyball, given that it's a team sport,
but there is work to be done to apologize to
the female athletes over forced to enduing this. So again,

(07:05):
I am grateful for their leadership. I think they've done
a really, really great job on all of this, but
there's still a lot of work to be done, and
unfortunately we weren't able to pass federal legislation, so the
executive orders and the Trump administration going after them, that's
really what we're stuck with here.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
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Speaker 3 (07:22):
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Speaker 1 (07:22):
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(08:07):
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ninety eight. What do you think about the Trump administration
weighing in on the mascots?

Speaker 3 (08:21):
What?

Speaker 1 (08:21):
I don't have no idea. What is the UPenn mascot?
It's probably some kind It's like an animal or something, right,
I mean, that's the safe thing? Is it's the gold?

Speaker 2 (08:30):
The Quakers? Yes?

Speaker 1 (08:32):
How do the How do the Quakers? A peaceful people?
Usually not what you'd think about as who you would
name your like ferocious athletic program after after as everyone? So,
I guess everyone just thinks that one's okay because who cares?

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I mean I think it was because of the Pennsylvania
was colonized.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Oh no, I have no idea why. I like, why
would they choose that as the It just seems like
such a I don't know. It's like, you know, if
your mascot was like the Mennonites or something, It's like
wait a second, like why that's a mascot? I don't know,
it seems I did not know that upen Is is
the Quaker, So that's interesting. But you know, the big

(09:13):
one right now is changing back the Washington Commanders to
the Redskins, and how this is something that a lot
of people feel very passionately about. What do you think
about this debate?

Speaker 2 (09:29):
You know, honestly, I don't really care. I'm going to
be honest.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
I think that the bigger thing is the reason that
the Redskins originally had to change their name was because
of this liberal ideology that's saying everything is racist. I
mean I saw this firsthand in college, where they were
tearing statues down if it was a white man that
had owned slaves somewhere at one point in history, or
things like that.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Right, We've seen this mass thing where.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
Anyone who's racist is gone, and that was what was
going on with a lot of these sports teams and mascots.
Is anything that was deemed to be racist or insensitive
or not politically correct needed to be changed.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
I think that the.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Washington Redskins having their name change was just part of
that entire conversation. And so I think Trump is just
fighting back to that, which I think he should.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
But to be fair. I don't really care.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
I that's not my team if it was my If
it was my team, I probably would care a little
bit more. But it has no effect really on my
life personally. And also I thought it was really funny
when they were the Washington football team for a season
or two if you remember that, Uh, not.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
A whole devocle was.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
I don't understand why it took them so long to
even change the name. I think that there's just creating
drama and it's just a kind of a joke at
this point.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Hmmm, yeah, I'm I don't think I anyone expected that
Trump was going to weigh in on this so heavily
over the weekend with your tweet. It is funny to
see some of the old some of the mascots that
have changed just because also, I mean, you swam against Dartmouth.
This is one to go from. I think it was
the Indians right to the Big Green. I don't even know,

(10:59):
is that like their quadrangle? What is the Big Green?

Speaker 3 (11:04):
I have no idea, but apparently the dartmous mascot is
also Keggy the Keg or something else their unofficial mascot.
I was told that by some friends. I had that
swam at Dartmouth too, and I was like, are we
being serious? Mascots in general are completely a joke. I mean,
who picks these? The fact that I had to be
a Quaker for four years and people would bring Quaker

(11:27):
oats and say this is our mascot. I mean, truly,
the entire thing is a joke. But again, I think
Trump is the master troller. He's always hilarious. I love
his tweets. I mean, I love him as president. He's
done wonderful things as president. But I think this man
also has a wonderful career going for him in comedy
if he ever chooses to go down that route. So
I think this is just another example of him doing that.

(11:48):
And I'm living for the entertainment.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
What do you think is speak of entertainment? What do
you think of Colbert? Are you a late night TV watcher?
Did you watch any of these shows? I mean I
assume you watched Gutfeldt sometimes, but did you ever watch
like you might be too young for like Leno or
any of that stuff. But what do you think about
Colbert getting canceled?

Speaker 3 (12:10):
I mean, I think it sounds like it was a
financial decision. It had nothing to do with anything else.
But yet we have people that are melting down calling
this politically motivated. I think bad ratings are bad ratings.
We again back to the original conversation about the WNBA.
We live in a capitalist society, and if your show
is not producing, then it's not producing. And to be honest,
I don't think I've met a single person that tells

(12:32):
me they've watched his show truly, And I talk to
a lot of my parents' friends that are in a
generation that are maybe you know, grew up watching that,
and I have not heard from a single person that
is truly a fan of his. So it doesn't surprise
me that his ratings are not there and the money
coming in for the show isn't there either.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
So what are you focused on these days? At the
American Principles Project, We are working.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
To really defend family rights and obviously the women's sports
issue is a big one, but also transgender ideology.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
I think we have a lot of work to be done.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
The Trump administration has been a great partner on all
of these things, but we've been working to just again
continue to defend women in sea sports.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Obviously because we don't have federal legislation.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
A lot of these states are still allowing men to
compete in women's sports and putting girls in danger, but
also not even just sports, but also in bathrooms and
locker rooms, and so we're staying vigilant on the fight.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
We've made great progress.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Again, and I think the culture's really shifted on that,
but unfortunately, until it's completely done and never happening again,
there are people that still have to stand up for it.
So I've been grateful to be part of doing that,
and I'm grateful for the people that have joined us
on this journey, and again so much support culturally on
this issue.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Men don't belong in women's sports. It's really that simple.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
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(14:07):
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(14:29):
much and we will talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Thank you.
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Buck Sexton

Buck Sexton

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