Sam Ponder has been fired from her ESPN job after she spoke out against biological males playing women’s sports.

Many took to social media after the move was announced, expressing outrage at Ponder’s departure. Critics noted Ponder was one of the few women employed by ESPN to offer any commentary on this subject matter. Others noticed the parallels to ex-ESPN personality Sage Steele — who was famously fired for conservative takes, as well.

Riley Gaines, a former Division 1 swimmer expressed her disagreement stating, “So ESPN fires [Sam Ponder], the only woman at the network who [has] publicly said men don’t belong in women’s sports,” Riley Gaines posted. “Three weeks before football season? Sam is one of the most beautiful, genuine women I’ve ever met along with [former ESPN host Sage Steele] who had a similar fate….not a coincidence.”

Ponder, who had earlier praised Italian fighter Angela Carini for not speaking to the media after her Olympic fight with Algerian boxer Imane Khelif – a former gender test failure. Ponder tweeted about the incident, “ENOUGH is what all of us should be saying!! Proud of this woman.”

“Biology is not bigotry. Loving people does not require the absence of boundaries.”

Not only do Ponder’s thoughts on gender issues in sports reflect her conservative ideology, but she has also weighed in with other statements. 

Missouri representative fronts for Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who got criticized after his commencement address at Benedictine College in which he talked up wife and other homemakers. Following an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Ponder also wished him well.

Ponder leaving ESPN is being widely interpreted as a bad look when it comes to the network’s ability to reach across all possible divides, but especially given general concerns about difference of opinion on hot-button topics including gender in sports.