Veteran sportscaster Bob Costas knocks trans athletes in women's sports: Common sense is 'not transphobic'

Fox News contributor Caitlyn Jenner weighed in on transgender swimmer Lia Thomas on OutKick’s "Gaines for Girls" podcast.

Veteran sportscaster Bob Costas spoke out against transgender athletes participating in women's sports, rejecting the notion that it's transphobic to call for "common sense."

During a panel discussion on Friday's installment of "Real Time," host Bill Maher asked his panel to weigh in on the lawsuit brought by Lia Thomas, the transgender Penn swimmer who made national headlines in 2022 after winning the NCAA Division I national championship, against World Aquatics in order to compete in women's swimming at the Summer Olympics. 

When asked whether it's fair to force women to compete with transgender women, Costas said it wasn't. 

LIA THOMAS CHALLENGES WORLD AQUATICS' POLICY ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES BEFORE OLYMPIC COURT: REPORT 

Transgender athlete Lia Thomas is suing World Aquatics in an effort to compete in women's swimming at the Summer Olympics. (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

"People may not realize this, the individual federations that govern these sports make up their own rules. So World Aquatics may have different rules than FIFA or the Track and Field Association," Costas began. "So I understand that when it comes to Olympic boxing, that federation will allow trans women to compete against biological women, at birth biological women. That seems crazy." 

"It's not transphobic to say 'Let's inject some common sense here,'" Costas exclaimed. "A lot of this is murky. We know that some people who use this as an issue actually are hostile towards trans people, or people who after carefully considered decision at a certain point in life, decide that they'll be happier and closer to their