'Never in my life': College football host Kirk Herbstreit says ESPN has never told him what he can or can't say

ESPN host Kirk Herbstreit said he has never received directives from employers at ESPN regarding what he can or can't say on the network.

Herbstreit is the top analyst on ESPN's "College Gameday" and recently spoke out against men competing against women in their sports.

He called the idea ridiculous and said he was done "biting my tongue" on certain subjects.

'I've never had anybody say to me, "Be careful" or "You better not say that," ever.'

Herbstreit appeared on Episode 510 of the Sports Illustrated podcast "SI Media with Jimmy Traina," where he was asked if he receives any input from his network about what he should say:

"This will be my 29th year," Herbstreit began. "I can say with 1,000% certainty I have never in my life had a producer tell me what I need to say or 'we like the SEC, you need to fake' — never in my life," he said.

The host then addressed whether any of his comments, which likely included his recent comments on transgender athletes, caused reprimand from ESPN.

"Never happened. Now, 29 years later, I've never had anybody say to me, 'Be careful' or 'You better not say that,' ever. Maybe other people that’s happened with. I’ve never experienced that in my entire career.”

'I am an introverted guy, but when you push my buttons, you can light a fuse.'

Herbstreit inspired headlines when he was asked online by a fan if "men belong in women's sports."

He responded by saying, "Of course not. Ridiculous question."

Herbstreit was then pressed on the subject by OutKick's Dan Dakich, who pushed the idea that Herbstreit must have known that he would cause a firestorm by responding to the fan question.

"I didn't give a s**t. I don't really give a s**t, at all. I'm done giving any s**ts, at all, about any of it," the 54-year-old said.

"It's almost like there are two different sets of rules, and if you have a view that is a little bit more traditional, and you know I'm a Christian guy, it's like there's a different set of rules from that viewpoint. It's hard to turn the cheek time after time after time, so yeah, I didn't really care and don't care at all," Herbstreit added.

Sports Illustrated host Traina asked Herbstreit if ESPN has a hand in his social media posts and referred to the recent firings by ESPN of hosts Sam Ponder and Robert Griffin III who are very opinionated on their social channels.

"People are trying to say ESPN is anti-religious or anti-people speaking out,” the host theorized.

Herbstreit then referred back to his interview with Dakich:

"The stuff that happened last week, I got kind of caught up [when] I was talking with Dan [Dakich]."

"I am an introverted guy, but when you push my buttons, you can light a fuse and kind of get me excited about the things I'm passionate about," Herbstreit continued.

The college football host then seemingly softened his reasoning for his comments, saying that he was frustrated over the division in the country:

"I think the reason I said I don’t give a s**t is just, I get so frustrated with the country and being so divided and not liking each other — and people just not getting along and people are lashing out. And in the college football community, people creating conspiracy theories that aren't true or people attacking me."

Despite claims that ESPN's recent firings, at least for Ponder, were in part due to her religious views and comments on keeping men out of women's sports, ESPN said its moves were made as part of budget cuts.

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