ESPN broadcaster Sam Ponder defended her colleague Sage Steele on Tuesday after American soccer star Megan Rapinoe criticized the latter host over comments about transgender participation in women’s sports.
Rapinoe said in an interview with Time magazine that when people like Martina Navratilova and Steele talk about fairness and equality in women’s sports, they’re really talking about how they’re going to treat transgender people for the rest of their lives. She also compared Dave Chappelle’s jokes about transgender people to “violence.”
Rapinoe also said it was “bulls—-” when people talk about equality in women’s sports and that transgender athletes taking advantage of women’s sports “just isn’t happening.”
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Sam Ponder, left, and Sage Steele are colleagues at ESPN. (fake images)
Ponder disagreed with the sentiment.
“Sage says biological males shouldn’t compete in women’s sports and now she’s to blame for the violence? This is an attempt to silence bona fide discussion and debate,” he wrote on Twitter. “To passionately disagree, to say that she is wrong (and why)…but to claim that she is responsible for the violence is absurd.”
Added Steele: “Yes, Sam…it’s absurd. And predictable! This is what happens when people let their emotions get in the way of FACTS AND SCIENCE. Especially when they fight to keep a false narrative alive. It you said better after (USA Today columnist Nancy) Armor attacked you: ‘biology is not bigotry.'”
Steele has expressed support for former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines for her advocacy to maintain equity in women’s sports. Steele stated that she supports Gaines, calling what has happened to trans people overcoming women’s sports “ridiculous”, “heartbreaking”, “hard to watch” and adding the hashtag “savewomensports”.
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Sunday NFL Countdown host Sam Ponder of “ESPN’s Sunday’s NFL Countdown” speaks onstage during the ESPN portion of the 2017 Summer Television Critics Association press tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Sage Steele speaks onstage during The Players Tailgate presented by Bobby Flay and presented by Bullseye Event Group for Super Bowl LVII on February 12, 2023 in Phoenix. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Bullseye Event Group)
Steele came to Ponder’s defense after Armor attacked Ponder’s views on transgender participation in women’s sports in May.
For Rapinoe, he went so far as to say that he would “absolutely” accept a transgender woman on the US women’s national team.
“‘You’re taking the place of a ‘real’ woman, that’s the part of the plot that’s still extremely transphobic. I see trans women as real women,” she said. “What you’re automatically saying in the argument, you’re already saying to yourself, is that you don’t believe these people are women. Therefore, they’re taking the other place. I don’t feel that way.” “
USWNT forward Megan Rapinoe during the Women’s World Cup media day at Dignity Health Sports Park. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
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Rapinoe was one of 40 professional athletes who signed a letter to House lawmakers in April opposing the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act, arguing that the bill would exclude women and girls from getting” physical and mental health benefits.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
