Sam Ponder backed Sage Steele on Tuesday after women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe claimed Steele’s words “directly leads to violence.”
“I don’t want to mince words about it,” Rapinoe told TIME. “Dave Chappelle making jokes about trans people directly leads to violence, whether it’s verbal or otherwise, against trans people.
“When Martina [Navratilova] or Sage [Steele] or whoever are talking about this, people aren’t hearing it just in the context of elite sports. They’re saying, ‘The rest of my life, this is how I’m going to treat trans people.’”
But lacking in those comments is the need for logical discourse, according to the pair of ESPN colleagues on their Twitter accounts.
“Sage says bio males shouldn’t compete in female sports and now she’s to blame for violence? This is an attempt to silence good-faith discussion and debate,” Ponder responded. “Disagree passionately, say she’s wrong (& why)… but to claim she is responsible for violence is absurd.”
