Sam Ponder attends SiriusXM At Super Bowl LVII on February 10, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
OAN Staff James Meyers 11:39 AM – Friday, August 16, 2024
ESPN is now under fire after being accused of firing “NFL Countdown” host Sam Ponder over her criticism of biological men who identify as transgender women that compete in female sports.
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“So ESPN fires @samponder, the only woman at the network who [has] publicly said men don’t belong in women’s sports 3 weeks before football season?” former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines wrote on X, echoing comments from many others.
“Pathetic… The woke media just got woker,” one online user responded. “It’s why ESPN is failing.”
The 38-year-old and wife of former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder is being let go two years into her three-year, $3 million deal, but will receive her full salary, according to the Daily Mail.
The timing of the decision comes with the end of the fiscal year approaching on September 30th, as the sports company has also fired “Monday Night Countdown” analyst Robert Griffin III, a Heisman Trophy winner and formerNFL quarterback who is vocal about his Christian faith.
When one door closes, another one opens. Trust God on your journey.
Recently, Ponder posted a comment on X (Twitter) regarding the gender controversy surrounding Imane Khelif, an Algerian Olympic boxer who allegedly has XY chromosomes and the testosterone levels of a man, even though her birth certificate labels her as a biological woman.
“XY= male XX= female,” Ponder wrote on X.
However, Ponder was not the only ESPN personality to question Khelif’s eligibility in the 2024 Paris Olympics. College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit was asked on X if “men belong in women’s sports,” to which he replied: “Of course not. Ridiculous question.”
However, Herbstreit has not been fired or reprimanded by the network over his comment.
Meanwhile, Ponder has not spoken publicly about her firing. An insider source who spoke with CNN vaguely claimed that she was let go simply due to a “business decision.”
In May 2023, Ponder also retweeted a comment made by former collegiate swimming champion Riley Gaines, who competed against Lia Thomas, a biological male swimmer who identifies as a trans woman, and she has since become an outspoken advocate of banning men from women’s sports and spaces.
I barely said anything publicly abt this issue & I’ve had so many ppl msg me, stop me in the street to say thank you+ tell me stories abt girls who are afraid to speak up for fear of lost employment/being called hateful. It is not hateful to demand fairness in sports for girls https://t.co/teNoMDWNW4
— Samantha Steele Ponder (@samponder) May 25, 2023
“It is not hateful to demand fairness in sports for girls,” Ponder wrote on X.
When an online user accused of her being a “transphobe,” Ponder responded: “Call me whatever names you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is inherently unfair for biological males to compete in female sports. It’s literally the reason they were separate in the first place + the reason we needed Title IX[.]”
Ponder is also an outspoken Christian and Liberty University graduate. She has three children with her husband.
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