A former ESPN host, who expressed her grief on social media following the assassination of Christian political activist Charlie Kirk, says she has received “disturbing” messages online about her support of the free speech and Biblical worldview champion.
Samantha Ponder, who hosted ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown for seven seasons before being fired abruptly in August 2024, is among a number of sports figures who have lamented Kirk’s death and mourned for his family and loved ones.
Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 at an outdoor event attended by about 3,000 people on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem. Tyler Robinson, 22, of Washington, Utah, has been charged in his killing.
Authorities allege Robinson fired a single rifle shot from a rooftop sniper position, striking Kirk in the neck last Wednesday on the college campus, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.
“I feel changed by this,” Ponder wrote Sept. 11 on X. “At first, admittedly, more fearful. But as I consider what’s at stake for our country and our children, I am emboldened to speak the truth with love even more.
“I spent so much of my professional career as a coward … shamefully afraid to say true things because it might jeopardize my position. One of the great things about having no ‘position’ anymore is the realization that a platform is actually useless without courage. I mourn for Charlie’s family. I mourn for our country. But I have renewed hope that many, like me, will find the courage to lovingly speak the truth boldly in the public square, as he often did.”
In 2023, Ponder told Decisionthat she had to speak out on social media against biological males competing in female sports while her colleagues at ESPN largely remained silent on the issue.
“I don’t want to live that way, afraid of some backlash,” she told Decision back then. “It’s scary because of the world we live in right now, but there are just some battles I’m going to choose to fight.”
In the wake of Kirk’s death, Ponder has called out her critics’ hypocrisy on X:
“My DMs are more disturbing than ever (and trust me, that’s saying something). Apparently only perfect people can be mourned when they’re murdered in their 30s with a wife and young children,” she wrote. “When a man is shot, debating opinions with anyone for all to see, he must align with our chosen dogma perfectly. If not, he had it coming/shouldn’t have said those mean things, so you should shut up about it.
“How can we see someone post about sadness over the death of ANYONE they cared about, even someone we think was flawed, and say “Stop being sad about them. I didn’t like their opinions.” Mourn with those who mourn. If I ever see hypocrisy, let me see it in myself. God forbid every word we’ve ever spoken be the prerequisite for sympathy when we die.”
Turning Point USA, the nonprofit political youth organization Kirk co-founded, has announced a public memorial service will take place on Sunday at State Farm Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals outside Phoenix—Ponder’s hometown. Doors will open at 8 a.m., and the program is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
