Fired ESPN star Sam Ponder, who was let go by the Worldwide Leader in Sports ahead of the 2024 NFL season, says that she was harassed over her opinion on transgender athletes in women's sports.
Ponder, who was making around $1 million to host "Sunday NFL Countdown" for ESPN, hasn't done much in sports media since. However, she took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday to share some news.
"I stopped posting about 9 months ago when 2 men from the NY Post showed up at my house, filming my daughter and me, because I had the audacity to tweet that she shouldn't have to keep playing boys in a girls bball league. They put an unemployed homeschool mom of 3 as the sole cover of the NY Post for something that is so elementary, fundamental and obvious that it feels absolutely insane that we are still discussing this. Stop with the "it's only a few" argument... since when is that a reason to not care about injustice and the truth?" she posted.
"The WNBA should be courageous. Stand for women. You can't stand for something you can't even define. Acknowledge that the inherent differences between men and women were the whole reason we needed the WNBA in the first place. Boundaries, clarity and exclusion are not hateful in sport... they're the prerequisite to playing and loving the game. Without the lines, without the rules, without the honesty about who's in and who's out, there is no fair competition."
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Last fall, Ponder claimed that her daughter's middle school basketball team was facing a transgender opponent.
"It's happened many times now living in NYC… yet another basketball game today where my middle school daughter is guarding an obviously naturally born boy in a girls tournament. The parents cheer while the boy is physical and dominant against the girls. The all girls team loses," she wrote on X.
"We've taught our kids to never make fun of the kid… to always be kind and loving. That the parents are the problem. That no kid is born in the wrong body. But if I'm honest, watching my daughter get posted up by a boy whose parents have deceived him in this way is maddening.
"To everyone saying 'just move!' I understand the sentiment but IMHO NYC is the greatest American city that has lost its way. I want to fight for truth and love. I don't want to give in to insanity and darkness. This is still America."
Ponder is a mother of three, with two girls and a boy. She and her husband, former NFL quarterback Christian Ponder, have chosen to live in New York City, but the former ESPN host has repeatedly taken to social media to post about political and social issues she has problems with.
