Kirk Herbstreit said he hasn’t heard from ESPN about his recent remarks regarding his stance that men don’t belong in women’s sports.
The ESPN “College GameDay” host — who was vocal about his feelings in a recent interview and on social media — explained that the sports media giant hasn’t once tried to control what he says on television and posts on social media in his 29 years.
“This will be my 29th year [at ESPN]. I can say with 1000-percent certainty I have never in my life had a producer tell me what I need to say or ‘we like the SEC, you need to fake’ — never in my life,” Herbstreit said during an appearance on the “SI Media With Jimmy Traina” podcast Thursday.
“… Never happened. Now, 29 years later, I’ve never had anybody say to me “be careful” or “you better not say that, ever. Maybe other people that’s happened with. I’ve never experienced that in my entire career.”
It came after Traina asked him if ESPN tells him what he can and cannot tweet.
“There is this theory out there, because obviously, last week Sam Ponder and Robert Griffin III were let go, people are trying say ESPN is anti-religious or anti-people speaking out,” Traina said.
ESPN dismissed Ponder and football analyst Robert Griffin III reportedly for budgetary reasons on Aug. 15.
Herbstreit — who has served as an analyst on “College GameDay” since 1996 and is ESPN’s top game analyst for college football — went on to explain that he dealt with “people attacking me” over his remarks.
“The stuff that happened last week, I got kind of caught up [when] I was talking with Dan [Dakich],” he said, referring to his appearance on the Outkick show last week. “I am an introverted guy, but when you push my buttons, you can light a fuse and kind of get me excited about the things I’m passionate about.
“I think the reason I said I don’t give a s–t is just, I get so frustrated with the country and being so divided and not liking each other — and people just not getting along and people are lashing out. And in the college football community, people creating conspiracy theories that aren’t true or people attacking me.”
Herbstreit was referring to when said he’s been “biting [his] tongue” about transgender people in sports for years, and he’s “done giving any s—ts about it” during an appearance on OutKick’s “Don’t @ Me! with Dan Dakich” last week.
A week prior, Herbstreit was asked “Do men belong in women’s sports?” by an X user.
“Of course not,” he replied. “Ridiculous question.”
Ponder publicly supported Herbstreit on X at the time.