A ridiculous conversation between Katie Couric and Neal Katyal about the sports cases
July 7, 2026
This post is about a recent (and very ridiculous) conversation between Katie Couric and Neal Katyal about last week’s (to the day!) win for female-only sports (start at around the 9:18 minute mark, and it’s only a few minutes long).
But first …
In the past 24 hours or so, nearly every elected Democrat has called for Graham Platner (who thinks women’s concerns about men in women’s sports are “manufactured”) to drop out of the Maine Senate race because a woman with Democratic party politics has credibly accused him of rape. Her name is Jenny Racicot.
They are right to do so.
However, a few things:
Every single elected Democrat has known for at least a year that Platner sports a Nazi tattoo.
A Republican woman presented similar accusations previously and elected Democrats said nothing. Her name is Lyndsey Fifield.
Every single elected Democrat who has called on him to drop out because of sexual abuse supports men who pummel women on playing fields and gawk at women in women’s locker rooms.
Yes, Platner should absolutely drop out. But there were plenty of reasons for this to be true even before the recent accusations.
Listen, elected Democrats: You can all see clearly that Graham Platner needs to go because he has been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Now would be an excellent time to disavow your support for men who pummel women on playing fields and gawk at women in women’s locker rooms.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time on X this morning, saying exactly that to a bunch of them. Here is just one example:
One minor celebrity who is not a federally elected Democrat, but who is calling for Platner to drop out of the race, is Emma Vigeland, who said:
Vigeland finds this news “devastating.” I don’t know, Emma, is it really “devastating” that a man who supports men who gawk at women in locker rooms, has already been accused of sexual abuse, and who sports a Nazi tattoo, has once again been credibly accused of rape? Why is anyone even a little bit surprised about this news?
The reason I am singling out Emma Vigeland for this is that she is the inspiration behind my “Infamous TERF writer” logo on this Substack. Emma is a co-host of The Majority Report with Sam Seder on YouTube. A few years ago, The Majority Report called an argument between TERFs and conservatives a “parody.” A few minutes into the conversation, Vigeland refers to me as an “infamous TERF writer” and flashes the cover of my first book The Abolition of Sex on the screen. She practically spits out the words “infamous TERF writer.” Listen to the whole thing if you want, because it’s all pretty fun, but that bit happens at 3:25. I had no idea she even knows who I am!
After that happened, a friend sent me a t-shirt bearing the phrase “Infamous TERF Writer.”
It stuck.
Emma, look. Stan for men who call themselves women if you want, but please don’t be surprised when a man who is perfectly fine with men who gawk at women in locker rooms, has already been credibly accused of sexual abuse, and sports a Nazi tattoo, is credibly accused of sexual abuse again.
Seriously, come on.
Earlier this morning, The Hill published an op ed by me titled “The Supreme Court still hasn’t finished the job of protecting women’s sports.” It’s about how last week’s Supreme Court ruling is great, but it didn’t go quite as far as I had wanted it to. Please share that op ed far and wide!
I posted it on X, but hardly anyone will see that post because no one can talk about anything other than Graham Platner today. Oh well!
Again, this post is about a recent conversation between Katie Couric and Neal Katyal about last week’s win for female-only sports (start at around the 9:18 minute mark, and it’s only a few minutes long).
Neal Katyal was the Solicitor General under President Obama, which means he represented the US in oral arguments before the Supreme Court. Now he’s a partner at a fancy law firm. During the conversation, Couric referred to him as a “smarty pants.” Given everything he got wrong about the cases in the few short minutes of the conversation, I’m not so sure.
Read on to learn more.
