Former ESPN host Sam Ponder is speaking out for the first time about her abrupt departure from the sports network in 2023, and she’s not holding back. In a candid conversation on The Sage Steele Show this week, Ponder shared her belief that her public support for biological women in sports played a major role in her firing—and she called some of ESPN’s reasoning “legit crazy.”

Ponder, who spent 14 years with ESPN and was best known as the host of Sunday NFL Countdown, said her quiet advocacy for fairness in women’s athletics started a chain of events that eventually led to her exit. The tipping point, she believes, came after she retweeted a video of former Penn swimmer Paula Scanlan discussing her experience competing alongside transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

“I don’t really think me losing my job was solely because of that,” Ponder said, “but the timing of it almost certainly was.”

She revealed that ESPN leadership privately acknowledged they agreed with her concerns but were unwilling to push back against what she described as a “loud activist group” within Disney, ESPN’s parent company. “They were not happy with me,” she said.

Despite the fallout, Ponder has no bitterness. “It’s one of the best things that ever happened to me,” she told Steele. “I was on that hamster wheel, and I was not going to jump off on my own. I needed to get kicked off.”

Ponder emphasized that her intentions were never hostile or political. Rather, she said she wanted to use her limited platform to highlight the stories of female athletes who felt silenced, especially those uncomfortable sharing locker rooms with biological males. “I wasn’t saying anything mean-spirited,” Ponder said. “I was just giving more spotlight to these girls’ stories.”

Still, she quickly felt pushback from ESPN. She recalled receiving an email warning her not to “misgender people” and citing several examples of posts the network found offensive, including a “like” she gave to a tweet by Megyn Kelly stating that men don’t need gynecologists.

“In some ways, I thought it was funny how ridiculous it is,” Ponder said. “Any woman who’s been to the gynecologist can understand that.”

The most emotional moment for Ponder came when ESPN celebrated Lia Thomas during Women’s History Month. “That just did something to me,” she said, fighting tears. “There are so many incredible women who’ve dealt with all the struggles that are unique to womanhood… and we’re going to take that spot and give it to someone who, by their own admission, only became a woman in the last year?”

Ponder believes she was on borrowed time after that. “I knew then that I was on the clock,” she said.

Her concerns reached a breaking point when she publicly supported Italian boxer Angela Carini, who refused to fight an opponent whose sex had been questioned. Ponder’s quote-tweet read: “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,” she admitted. “But to me, that’s abuse.”

Shortly after, she got the call—while shopping at a store near her home—that ESPN was letting her go.

Though ESPN characterized her exit as a financial decision, Ponder believes it was a combination of her public stance and limited on-air presence that led to her dismissal. “I had turned down opportunities to work more because of the season of life I’m in,” said the mom of three. “I’m not giving up that time with them for any opportunity.”

Despite everything, Ponder maintains that her actions were consistent with ESPN’s mission to cover sports fairly. “I thought this was sports,” she said. “We’re talking about female collegiate athletes, Olympic athletes. Why don’t their voices deserve a platform?”

Through it all, she says she’s grown stronger in faith, conviction, and courage. “I should’ve spoken up a long time before,” she told Steele. “I should’ve been a lot more courageous when I knew what was right.”