About

Caitlin Dark, also known as Joker Goth Lesbian Basketball Player, is the nickname of 39-year-old Australian basketball player, model and musician, Caitlin Mary Cunningham. Cunningham won Australia's Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) as part of the Canberra Capitals in 2007 and now plays for the Rockhampton Cyclones in Australia's semi-professional NBL-1 league. Caitlin Cunningham also works as a model, a personal fitness instructor under the name @healthgoth_fitness, and performs with the pop-punk band Free Entertainment. In 2025, Cunningham went viral on TikTok for their striking goth makeup, vampire fangs tattoos and alternative style, becoming the subject of various memes.

Background

Caitlin Mary Cunningham is a 6'4" Melbourne-based basketball player currently starring for the Cyclones in Australia’s Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL). Cunningham was born on January 17th, 1986, in Fitzroy, Melbourne, and debuted in Australia's WNBL in 2003 with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).^[9]

She won a WNBL championship in the 2006–07 season with the Canberra Capitals and took a break from basketball for several years to focus on music, modeling and personal training. According to the site Pride,^[10] she returned to the court in 2021 to play with the Rockhampton Cyclones in the semi-professional NBL1 South league.

Online History

On January 23rd, 2013, Caitlin Cunningham posted her first "French Fries with Caitlin" video, a series she has continued to post on her YouTube^[11] channel CAITLE until 2016.

The latest edition^[12] of the series was posted on November 20th, 2016, titled, "French fries with Caitlin -Isaka ya ism – Shimokitazawa – Tokyo, Japan." Both videos netted under 300 views each.

On March 4th, 2024, Cunningham's pop-punk band Free Entertainment posted a video of the band performing their song "Figure You Out" to Instagram,^[13] gathering over 12,000 views and 500 likes in a year.

On June 6th, 2025, Caitlin Cunningham posted an Instagram^[1] slideshow to @caitlepillar showing themself wearing Joker-like eye makeup during a basketball game. The post gathered over 100,000 likes in three weeks.

Online Presence

On June 7th, 2025, Cunningham posted a video to their TikTok^[6] channel (@caitlepillar) talking about how there are "no rules about make up in bball at the professional and semi pro level," and how she's "giving in" to the "clown vibe." The video gathered over 100,000 plays and 4,000 likes in three weeks.

On June 18th, TikToker^[5] @modernnotoriety reposted the slideshow originally posted by Caitlin Cunningham, calling them "The Goth Hooper" and writing, "Australian basketball player Caitlin Mary Cunningham wears Joker-inspired makeup during games, as there are no makeup restrictions at the professional or semi-professional levels in Australia. In addition to playing basketball, @CAITLE also models and creates emo, goth, and dark electronic music both in bands and as a solo artist."

The post gathered over 3 million views and 600,000 likes in six days. A similar post on Instagram^[8] gathered over 50,000 likes in five days.

Later on June 18th, X^[2] user @DiabolicalSpuds tweeted an image of Caitlin Cunningham, writing, "Them: You better not be an Australian joker goth lesbian basketball player when you get here / My goofy ass." The post gathered over 76,000 likes in a week.

Also on June 18th, X^[3] user @ecto_fun tweeted, "I might be in love," alongside a photo of Cunningham posing with their friends and sticking her tongue out. The post gathered over 20,000 likes in a week.

On June 20th, 2025, sports commentator and Instagram user Coach Jackie J @jcubedhax posted a video to Instagram^[7] about Caitlin Cunningham, calling them "Caitlin Dark" and gathering over 560,000 views and 67,000 likes in four days.

On June 22nd, TikToker^[4] @villanlle tweeted a fan edit or fancam of Caitlin Cunningham, calling them "Shane-coded" in reference to a character from The L Word, and gathering over 6,000 views and 1,000 likes in two days.

Search Interest

External References