Do we like Sonny Bill Williams?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record of kindness and standing up for others, with one deleted anti-trans retweet he never explained.
Sonny Bill Williams is a Kiwi who has done it all: rugby league, rugby union, and then professional boxing. He converted to Islam in 2009 and has said that faith helped when he was losing his way in professional sport. He told the NZ Herald that some people, 'especially the conservative types', were put off by a Polynesian Muslim sportsman who switched codes.
The mark against him is February 2023. He retweeted a post from a doctor known for anti-trans views, who said she 'thanked God' her parents didn't let her transition young. Advocate Shaneel Lal said it was disappointing to see him use his reach that way, and NZ Herald columnist Alice Soper wrote that he exited the conversation by deleting the tweet. We found no statement from him explaining or apologising for it.
That is the harm check in full: a single retweet, not a campaign. We found nothing else from him on trans people, gay people or women that counts as harm, and no vaccine or climate-denial slide. An older question was his photos with a cleric whose anti-gay views drew complaints to BMW in 2017. The NZ Herald reported he couldn't be reached for comment and BMW's contract was unchanged. That is company, not his words, and it was a long time ago.
On the other side of the ledger, he has said the right things about other people. In 2019 he spoke about inclusiveness towards other faiths, saying 'We love you', in the same week the Israel Folau row was in the headlines. That same year he tweeted that it was a sad time when countries chose 'economic benefits over humanity', backing the Uyghurs, and copped a serve from Chinese commentators.
The best story is Christchurch. After the 2019 mosque attacks that killed 50 people, he travelled there, took a week off Super Rugby and said he would hand donations to the local masjids. He posted 'please don't stop showing your support' on Twitter. That is a bloke using his profile for others at a cost to himself.
Nothing new on him lately. The most recent news we found is the July 2025 boxing loss to Paul Gallen on a split decision, after he was deducted a point for holding. He skipped the press conference, still calls it a win in his own head, and Gallen retired afterwards. He's a gracious enough sportsman, but he's been quiet on the trans retweet, and that's the asterisk.