Sam Ponder ties her surprising ESPN exit final 12 months to her views on transgender athletes and an rare work schedule, and believes among the reasoning for it’s “legit crazy.”
Ponder, who spent 14 years with the Worldwide Chief earlier than being let go final August, offered her first deep dive on her dismissal on Wednesday’s episode of “The Sage Steele Show” and primarily linked it to a series of occasions coinciding with a July 2023 retweet about transgender athletes.
“I don’t really think me losing my job was solely because of that, but the timing of it almost certainly was,” Ponder mentioned whereas opening up on her exit. “I used to be advised after the actual fact privately that most individuals on the prime of the corporate did agree with me on the difficulty however there’s a loud activist group at Disney and so they weren’t pleased with me. I can say all that and inform this a part of the story and nonetheless let you know, Sage, it’s among the finest issues that ever occurred to me.
“I was on that hamster wheel and I was not going to jump off on my own. I needed to get kicked off. As much as the part of the reasoning behind it is legit crazy, I feel no bitterness or even frankly sadness. I had a great career, I was 20 years in the business. I met some awesome people and there are still some really great people there. Never thought this would kind of be the way out but should have spoken up a long time before, I should have been a lot more courageous when I knew what was right.”
The previous “Sunday NFL Countdown” host revealed she knew her time may very well be coming to an finish after the chain of occasions began two years in the past along with her retweeting a video put up of former Penn swimmer Paula Scanlan detailing her time as a teammate of transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
Ponder wrote in a quote tweet of an Unbiased Ladies’s Discussion board put up: “No matter where you stand on this issue, it is well worth your time to listen to @PaulaYScanlan share her own story as someone who actually lived this while a female athlete at UPenn.”
“I didn’t think that was going to get that much of a response, but it did,” Ponder mentioned.
Ponder mentioned she had one or two different replies to people that she referred to as “fairly innocuous,” though she already had come underneath fireplace for supporting controversial former swimmer Riley Gaines, who is among the main voices in making an attempt to maintain transgender athletes separate from ladies’s athletics.
An ESPN higher-up allegedly then emailed Ponder claiming the corporate was “uncomfortable” along with her discussing transgender ladies in ladies’s sports activities and “they weren’t going to allow me to misgender people.” She adopted up asking for specifics, to which the person couldn’t instantly present.
“Because I still didn’t think, and I didn’t say anything mean-spirited, I was basically trying to give more spotlight, whatever limited spotlight I had, to these girls’ stories, whether it was Riley Gaines or Paula, cause I just felt like I wasn’t seeing it on ‘SportsCenter,’” Ponder mentioned. “I honestly didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but when I got the email I knew it was.”
Ponder, 39, mentioned she obtained an in depth e-mail the next week that famous how she favorited a tweet from conservative voice Megyn Kelly that mentioned males don’t want gynecologists. Ponder mentioned she didn’t view that as a giant deal, having simply favorited it, and added that “we’ve all agreed” with that viewpoint.
“In some ways, I thought it was funny how ridiculous it is,” Ponder mentioned. “Any woman who’s been to the gynecologist can understand that, I think.”
The e-mail additionally contained additional particular examples of something the corporate allegedly deemed “offensive” and she or he claimed they mainly warned her, “We’re not doing this.”
And that’s when Ponder made a startling realization.
“I knew then that I was on the clock if you will,” Ponder mentioned.
The dialogue surrounding transgender athletes had already been a sizzling matter for Ponder, who recalled a sequence of occasions surrounding Ladies’s Historical past Month that bothered her.
ESPN requested her in 2023 to a profile of a lady who was the “most inspirational” for Ladies’s Historical past Month and whereas she needed to decide on Gaines, she opted for her mom.
“I knew deep down in that moment I was supposed to talk about Riley,” Ponder mentioned. “So, I did a little self-censorship there.”
When ESPN aired a bit recognizing Thomas in 2023, it didn’t sit properly with Ponder.
“That just did something to me,” Ponder mentioned. “I don’t know why, however it’s form of emotional to me. Man, there’s so many unimaginable ladies which have handled all of the struggles which might be distinctive to womanhood.
“And for the company to basically say, we’re going to take that spot and we’re going to give it to someone who by their own admission, has only quote-unquote become a woman within the last year, was Will Thomas on the team the year before, and I’m hearing stories about these girls who were in the locker room saying, ‘I had to get undressed in front of a fully intact male 18 times a week.’ And we’re a company that — I thought — feminists and girl power and we’ve got all these women in position of power, we’re not going to listen to that voice, we’re not going to platform that voice to say, ‘Hey man, ‘I’m uncomfortable with this. We’re going to silence these people?”
Quick ahead to final summer time and the dialogue of gold-medal profitable boxer Imane Khelif, whose eligibility grew to become a global storyline.
Some questioned her intercourse throughout her run to Olympic fame after allegedly beforehand failing a gender check, and an Italian boxer ended a combat early in opposition to her because it was “unjust.”
Ponder quote-tweeted an Aug. 1 a put up that includes feedback from mentioned boxer, Angela Carini, with the caption: “ENOUGH is what all of us should be saying!! Proud of this woman 👏🏼💪🏼.”
“I knew when I sent that, like, this isn’t going to go over well,” Ponder mentioned. “But to me, that’s abuse. You have a male in a boxing ring with a female literally beating her and we’re just supposed to like, ‘Yay,’ in the name of inclusion. No, like, what about her?”
Ponder mentioned the subsequent week, whereas she was at a retailer down the street from the home shared by her and former NFL quarterback Christian Ponder, she obtained a textual content asking her to hop on a name in an hour with a number of of us, together with one she by no means offers with.
“I was like, this is it,” Ponder mentioned.
ESPN characterised Ponder’s exit — together with Robert Griffin III — as monetary selections, The Submit beforehand reported, and the pair nonetheless had time left on their offers.
Ponder famous that she believes her rare appearances on ESPN programming factored into the corporate transferring on.
“I never believe I was solely fired for this,” Ponder mentioned of her views on transgender athletes. “I think the model of my career at that point, only working Sundays in the fall on ‘Countdown’ was not what they wanted and they felt like they were paying me too much money to do just one thing. I had turned down opportunities in the past to work more and do more because of the season of life I’m in, I got three little kids. I’m not giving up that time with them for any opportunity.”
Ponder additionally added that she believes that in commenting on transgender athletes and the fierce dialogue surrounding the subject, she had been sticking to sports activities.
“I thought this was sports. We’re talking about female collegiate athletes, Olympic athletes, and it’s wrong to shine a voice on that and give another voice, another opinion?” Ponder mentioned. “I wasn’t against debate or healthy discussion. I just didn’t want anyone telling me, ‘No, no, no, you can’t talk about that. I wasn’t really giving my own opinions on it, as much as I was saying, ‘Listen to these girls, they’re in the locker rooms. Why do their opinions not deserve a platform when we’re giving awards for Women’s History Month to someone born male? I couldn’t understand it, I still don’t understand it.”
