Former ESPN personality Samantha Ponder has candidly shared her concerns regarding her daughter’s experiences with transgender athletes in middle school sports competitions.

Ponder, 39, was unexpectedly dismissed by ESPN in August 2024, ending her $3 million contract a year early. Over the weekend, she voiced her frustration online, criticizing what she described as the ‘insanity and darkness’ infiltrating the nation’s ‘premier city.’

On Sunday, Ponder took to social media to express that her daughter has repeatedly faced a ‘biologically male’ competitor in all-girls tournaments.

‘We’ve taught our children to refrain from mocking others, to always show kindness and love. We believe that the issue lies with the parents, as no child is inherently in the wrong body. However, witnessing my daughter being challenged by a boy, misled by his parents, is infuriating,’ she shared.

Addressing those suggesting relocation, Ponder remarked, ‘I understand the idea of simply moving, but in my opinion, NYC is America’s greatest city, though it has lost its direction. I want to advocate for truth and love, resisting the descent into madness and darkness. This is still America.’

Former ESPN star Samantha Ponder claimed that her middle school daughter is competing against a transgender athlete during basketball games 

Ponder was fired by ESPN weeks after speaking out against trans athletes in women’s sports

The former sports presenter opened up on the ‘maddening’ experience in an online rant 

Ponder shares three children – two girls and a boy – with her husband, ex-quarterback Christian Ponder, whom they raise in New York City. 

The former sports reporter has previously spoken out on the topic of transgender athletes in women’s sports, sparking controversy during last year’s Olympics. 

She was fired by ESPN in August 2024 with her dismissal attributed to cost-cutting measures at the time.

However, the Sunday NFL Countdown host’s exit came just weeks after she spoke out against boxer Imane Khelif – who won a women’s boxing gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris despite claims she is a biological male.

After sharing quotes from one of Khelif’s opponents on why she quit midway through their bout, she wrote on X: ‘ENOUGH is what all of us should be saying!! Proud of this woman’.

During an appearance on fellow ex-ESPN star Sage Steele’s podcast in July, Ponder said she was instantly worried about potential repercussions from network bosses.

‘I knew when I sent that it wasn’t going to go over well,’ she told Steele. ‘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 [clap gesture] “Yay” in the name of inclusion?’

Ponder, who spent 14 years with ESPN before her firing, had also made her feelings on trans athletes in women’s sports clear on multiple occasions in the past.

Ponder shares three children – two girls and a boy – with husband, ex-QB Christian Ponder

The Sunday NFL Countdown host had criticized controversial Olympics boxer Imane Khelif

Back in June 2023, she retweeted a video post of former UPenn swimmer Paula Scanlan recalling her time as a teammate of trans athlete Lia Thomas and commented: ‘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.’

Two months earlier the then-ESPN personality also claimed on X that allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s sports ‘takes away so many opportunities for biological women and girls in sports.’

And while she also puts her firing down to an infrequent work schedule, Ponder believes it is no coincidence that it came shortly after her latest trans protest regarding Khelif.

‘I don’t really think me losing my job was solely because of that, but the timing of it almost certainly was,’ she explained to Steele. ‘I was told after the fact privately that most people at the top of the company did agree with me on the issue, but there is a loud activist group at [ESPN owners] Disney and they were not happy with me.

‘I can say all that and tell this part of the story and still tell you, Sage, it’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.’

The Daily Mail reached out to ESPN for comment at the time but did not receive a response.