Earlier this week, it was reported that ESPN host Sage Steele was suing the network for violating her free speech rights in retaliation for comments she made on a podcast regarding the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and former President Barack Obama.
Her argument was ESPN and parent company Disney selectively enforce a policy barring news personnel from commenting on political or social matters based on the popularity of their positions.
Keith Olbermann, who has had a contentious relationship with ESPN, took to Twitter this week and came in defense of the World Wide Leader in Sports.
Olbermann offered to help them as he called out ESPN’s management. He also pointed to a few holes in the complaint Steele made against them.
“Mark my words carefully: HOW CAN I HELP ESPN MANAGEMENT HERE?” Olbermann wrote.
In a follow-up tweet, Olbermann pointed to one instance where Steele accuses ESPN of “selective enforcement of network policy.” He called that ‘bullshit’ as he gave an example of where he was made to delete a Tweet the company didn’t agree with.
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In a podcast with former quarterback Jay Cutler, Steele in September 2021 expressed skepticism about private companies requiring employees to get vaccinated. She said the mandate was “sick” and “scary to me in many ways.”
“ESPN’s inconsistency in how it treated Steele as compared to her peers demonstrates that Steele was punished not only for exercising her constitutional right to free speech but because of the content of that speech,” reads the complaint filed on Wednesday in Connecticut state court. “Steele was disciplined by her employer in violation of Connecticut state law because she exercised her First Amendment right to express opinions with which ESPN and Disney do not agree.”
“Steele also offered some frank, unguarded thoughts about media criticism and the refusal of some individuals to accept opinions unlike their own, or not in accord with those they assume are held by others based on appearance, gender, etc.,” the complaint states. “In this context, when she was asked about her experience as a biracial woman, Steele noted that Barbara Walters once challenged her (on the ABC program The View, owned by Disney) on her biracial identity.”
On the podcast, Steele also made comments implying that women who wear provocative clothing bear some responsibility for sexism and sexual harassment.
“When you dress like that, I’m not saying you deserve the gross comments, but you know what you’re doing when you put that outfit on, too,” she said. “We need to be responsible as women, too. We know what we’re doing when we put certain things on.”
