Former ESPN and WWE personality Charly Arnolt has left her big time job at ESPN for Clay Travis’s ‘Outkick’ sports outlet, citing that her departure was due to the company’s biased coverage of trans athletes, especially in women’s sports.
Last week, Arnolt went on “America’s Newsroom” on Fox News to explain why she left the Walt Disney owned sport platform saying that she believes there is a contradiction in ESPN’s stated policy of staying out of politics.
“ESPN has been very adamant about keeping politics out of their programming.” Arnolt told Fox News.
ESPN's Sam Ponder and Sage Steele have joined Riley Gaines' opposition to trans athletes like Lia Thomas destroying women's sports.
OutKicks's @CharlyOnTV joined @AmericaNewsroom to discuss the future of women's sports. pic.twitter.com/HJPYLXH2MQ
— OutKick (@Outkick) April 20, 2023
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“Yet you just saw, late last month, they did a whole tribute, during Women’s Month, for Lia Thomas, Therefore, it doesn’t exactly seem like they are keeping politics completely out of the mix,” she continued.
Arnolt gave credit to Sage Steele and Samantha Ponder for their opposing to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas who was praised internally at ESPN for breaking LGBTQ barriers when most believe they were praising a biological male for dominating women’s sports.
“But, I have to commend these two women for standing up for these women who are unfortunately losing so much of the success that they worked so hard for.”
Samantha Ponder, the host of ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” commented on ESPN’s Lia Thomas tribute, saying “This would take away so many opportunities for biological women and girls in sports. It is a shame that we are needing to fight for the integrity of Title IX in 2023 and the reason it was needed in the first place.”
RELATED: Actual Woman Wins NCAA’s Woman Of The Year Award Over Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas
Sage Steele defended Ponder, remarking that “This is heartbreaking, maddening, and really difficult to watch. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and be relieved that this was all just a ridiculous, comical, nonsensical dream.”
Arnolt believes that her inability to oppose left wing progressive dogma in the last couple of years in her contract led her to the decision to bail on the company and sign with OutKick.
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“People are too scared to speak up for the fear of being called politically incorrect. The idea of cancel culture, it doesn’t exist here. I speak freely.” She stated. “I have a lot of opinions that I haven’t been able to express, and I can’t wait to get started.”
After making the announcement that she is leaving ESPN for OutKick, many on social media accused Arnolt of racism for joining Clay Travis’s outlet. Many of the hateful comments came from people within the pro-wrestling community. Charly worked for WWE between 2016-2021 as a on screen personality.
One Twitter user commented “I thought joining the s*** show Outkick was bad, but that was THE reason why she left ESPN for it? A fucking idiot.”
Other Twitter posts were far more inflammatory.
“You’re a very sick and nasty women. How dare you smile with that lower third as you continue to push the targeted hate towards young LGTBQ+ people?? Leave trans people tf alone. But kudos to u for leaving a national network for a show that will be watched by maybe 5 people!”
Another Twitter user slammed Charly, posting “I hope one day you wake up and realize how much hurt people like you cause. Or just wake up and realize it’s ok to shut the fuck up and keep your unwanted, stupid views to yourself. Good luck on being a nobody.”
Travis posted the announcement of Arnolt’s hiring at OutKick to his Twitter account while also congratulating her for the decision to come over to his team.
“Charly will be on of the hosts of our new OutKick morning show debuting this summer,” Said Travis. “She’s leaving ESPN so she can actually say what she thinks. Awesome addition.”
Welcome to @Outkick @CharlyOnTV. Charly will be one of the hosts of our new Outkick morning show debuting this summer. She’s leaving @espn so she can actually say what she thinks. Awesome addition: https://t.co/HgmVgJvxig
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 17, 2023
“I’m extremely excited to join OutKick and work alongside Clay and a great stable of talent,” Arnolt said in a statement.
“The outspoken nature of the platform and its ability to create engaging content is what really piqued my interest. I have a lot of opinions that I haven’t been able to express, and I can’t wait get started.”
What are your thoughts on Charly Arnolt making the jump from ESPN to Outkick?