For five years, Charly Arnolt lived in a world in which she said she couldn’t be her ‘sincere, authentic self’. A world where she says colleagues “judged her on everything she said or did,” where she felt she couldn’t share her honest opinion.
Now that has all changed. The broadcaster, 35, has traded her previous home at ESPN for Outkick and the restrictions are well and truly off.
Enjoying her newfound freedom, Arnolt is ready to tackle the most controversial issues in sport, and – sitting at the headquarters of the Daily Mail in New York – nothing is off the table.
Enter Brittney Griner, the 6-foot-9 WNBA player who was rescued from a Russian penal colony by the Biden administration in exchange for Russian arms dealer, ‘The Merchant of Death’ Victor Bout.
Last month, Griner weighed in on the trans debate, saying it was a “crime” to remove biological men from women’s sports, amid a Republican-led movement to change Title IX to protect women’s sports from biological men, and especially trans women.
Charly Arnolt has found a new sense of freedom since leaving her role at ESPN for Outkick
Arnolt was highly critical of Lia Thomas, Brittney Griner and Megan Rapinoe with Dailymail.com
“You have to look at the administration that got her out of jail in Russia, our current administration,” Arnolt told DailyMail.com exclusively. “So she’s probably going to do what they want her to do.
Brittney Griner should be very thankful that she didn’t have that obstacle leading up to this point, because otherwise she might not be playing in the WNBA.
“I also think just calling it a crime takes you a step further, and that’s the scary thing, now it’s not just saying, ‘Oh, this is wrong,’ we’re criminalizing. It is very much the tendency of the left to take dissenting views and criminalize them.
“We get mediocre men who want to move up to the women’s league. So what if there’s a super dominant male athlete?’
The highest-profile transgender athlete, Lia Thomas competed on the NCAA men’s team for Penn. Thomas placed 554th in the 500m freestyle in 2018-2019 as she competed against her biological contemporaries.
In 2022, after identifying as a woman and undergoing hormone treatment, Thomas became an NCAA champion in the women’s 500 meters.
Thomas has said that those who oppose biological men encroaching on a space made for women are “controlling women’s bodies.” However, Arnolt is in favor of protecting her fellow women and believes that Thomas’ call for universal acceptance is shrouded in hypocrisy.
“I think she’s the biggest bigot I’ve come across lately because she pushes her own beliefs on other people and says if you don’t believe in this, you’re a hateful person,” Arnolt said.
Arnolt is known for her coverage of UFC and has visions that span several sports
Arnolt disagrees with Britney Griner’s view of biological women competing against each other
Arnolt said Griner will do “whatever” the Biden administration wants after they release her
“You were a mediocre athlete in terms of male competition, and that’s when you decided you wanted to jump the ladder and move into the women’s league.
‘You are built differently from a woman. Anyone trying to make the argument that there is a gender spectrum, you can believe what you want, but the science will tell you, the DNA will tell you there was a man and there was a woman. I don’t care how you want to identify yourself; at ground zero, that’s who you are.
“I find it offensive as a woman when a man decides that just because they’ve decided to live their lives and identify themselves differently, they can now enter a space that belongs to women they’ve fought so hard for and just have the success and opportunities they should have.’
Arnolt is eager to make it clear that she is an accepting person, but only for a brief moment does she slightly apologize. Otherwise, Arnolt displays a fire and passion she has not seen before, as she reads from teleprompters at ESPN’s lower Manhattan studio.
When announcing her departure from ESPN, she expressed how excited she was to join OutKick because of its “outspoken character.” It is clear why she will like such a position.
The next topic Arnolt broaches is that of Megan Rapinoe, the polarizing soccer star who was as vocal as anyone in the fight for the U.S. women’s national team to be paid the same wages as their male counterparts—a feat that has since been accomplished.
Now Rapinoe is opposing an amendment to Title IX and for the inclusion of transgender women in a space previously reserved for biological women.
Suddenly she turns around after she stops playing for the national team and says, “Yeah, I’m totally convinced that men should be able to play with women.”
“She promotes equality and women’s rights and the ability to share in their success, which is almost completely the opposite of what she puts forward.”
Arnolt admits she doesn’t know what Rapinoe’s motive is, but suggests it could be similar to her hypothesis about Griner’s situation: acting as a pawn for a higher entity.
More broadly, she worries that American society is sleepwalking into a scary future, urging others to speak out as it is today.
Arnolt worked at ESPN for five years and now revealed she couldn’t be her “authentic self.”
Biological male Lia Thomas went from ranked 554th in NCAAM 500 meters to 1st in NCAAW
Arnolt said Thomas is “the biggest bigotry I’ve come across” in the last few years of her career
“I think once you really look at what’s happening or try to get involved in the discussion, it really opens your eyes because I think [for] many people ignorance is bliss, right? Many people just go on with their lives and [think] If it doesn’t hit me here now, then I don’t worry about it.
“It’s a slippery slope that we’re experiencing and it’s one problem piling up against another and another and another. And even as we see now in school systems, in some places they have removed the words “male” and “female” from biology classes. Now they are called sperm producers and egg producers.
“It’s just bizarre, the path we’re taking. And I don’t see it ending unless people start speaking out.”
While ESPN may be associated with voicing topics that fit a politically correct agenda, the sports giant has been criticized — by Arnolt and others — for failing to balance topics such as the transgender movement in sports.
At the network, Arnolt felt that her honest opinion could not be shared. So much so that she stopped tweeting opinions from her own personal Twitter account for fear of negative retaliation.
Megan Rapinoe (R) has had very different views on women’s sports lately
Walking on eggshells has been part of her ESPN existence, and while she admits that some of the biggest personalities, like Stephen A. Smith, can get opportunities to speak their minds, there’s little room for this kind of conversation.
“I think there would be repercussions,” Arnolt said of those not named Stephen A, if they spoke out for positions not taken by the network.
“I think if enough people stand up for what’s right for issues that need to be talked about more publicly, personally I don’t think they can do much because what happens when all the big faces of the company start speaking up, they will not come from everyone.
“Until people get the courage and realize that until we start standing up for what’s right and put our foot down on some issues, things will get worse and worse.”