There are no coincidences in Riley Gaines’ mind.
The former Kentucky swimmer and current Outkick podcast host backed Sam Ponder after ESPN parted ways with the “Sunday NFL Countdown” host on Thursday.
“So ESPN fires Sam Ponder, the only woman at the network who was publicly said men don’t belong in women’s sports. 3 weeks before football season?” Gaines posted on X. “Sam is one of the most beautiful, genuine women I’ve ever met along with Sage Steele who had a similar fate….not a coincidence.”
Ponder was reportedly fired, along with NFL analyst Robert Griffin III, with two years left on a five-year contract for budgetary reasons.
Steele, the former “SportsCenter” host, parted ways with ESPN in 2023 after a legal settlement with the Worldwide Leader after she was taken off the air for comments about the company’s COVID vaccine mandate in October 2021.
Steele and Ponder were among the few at ESPN to publicly support Gaines, who has spoken out against biological men competing in women’s sports since losing to Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, at an NCAA event.
Steele offered support to Ponder on Friday as well, expressing excitement for what’s to come for the now-former “NFL Countdown” host.
“This is another loss for ESPN, but it is a gain for literally the rest of the world because now you’re going to see the true Sam Ponder,” Steele said in a video shared to social media. “It’s all going to come out, and I hope you’re ready. She is a gem.”
Ponder also received some backing from an unlikely source as news of her firing broke.
“No Sam Ponder bottle, can you believe that?” Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who famously feuded with Ponder in 2018, said on Thursday. “Listen, I took the first shot at Sam Ponder. Was it joking? Yeah. Do I think she and ESPN overreacted? I know so. But I’m fair. And I’ve said this about Ponder, buried the axe, buried the hatchet. I have no champagne bottle for her.”
The sports media giant has had several of its major personalities speak out on transgender athletes in recent weeks, with NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky posting, and then deleting, “Protect our daughters” on X amid the Imane Khelif Olympic boxing controversy.
College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said he’s done “biting his tongue” about the issue in a Tuesday appearance on Outkick’s “Don’t @ Me! with Dan Dakich.”
“It’s almost like there are two different sets of rules,” Herbstreit said, “and if you have a view that’s a little bit more traditional — I’m a Christian guy, it’s like there’s a different set of rules for that viewpoint and it’s hard to just turn the other cheek time after time after time. I didn’t really care.”
Ponder has yet to address the situation with ESPN publicly, but it appears she’s already got plenty of advocates in her corner.