Sage Steele is free from ESPN and Disney and she is making sure to take every shot at her former employer.
Sage Steele, the veteran sportscaster who recently left ESPN after settling a lawsuit with the sports media giant, has been touching on every topic that she could in the aftermath of her career move. The biggest topic was accusing the late Barbara Walters of assaulting her backstage during an appearance on “The View.”
That wasn’t all she talked about with Megyn Kelly.
Kelly slammed “woke” ESPN hosts for “holding back tears” when condemning the overturning of Roe v. Wade but steering clear and not speaking on trans athletes participating in women’s sports. She ripped into the sports network for speaking on topics like George Flyod’s death and the decision to end federal protections on abortion rights but not other things.
“Sports Media, I think, has a special obligation,” Kelly said.
“My daughter is 12. If she shows up at a soccer game and there is a boy on the other team, we’re out of there. There’s zero chance I will let her play. I don’t care who I offend … There’s no way — and I recommend other parents do the same thing because your kid actually could get hurt.”
Steele agreed with Kelly, adding that she was “disgusted” to see her ex-colleagues decline to speak on the issue.
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She also alleged that several of her past male coworkers oppose trans athletes playing against their chosen gender and wouldn’t allow their own daughters to play against “boys.”
“This isn’t even controversial. This is stupid that it’s even a topic with trans-biological men trying to play sports with women,” Steele said.
Steele then accused ESPN of only allowing its employees to discuss views on things that are liberal in nature, which led her to sue the network for firing her over conservative comments she made on a non-affiliated podcast on her day off. She pointed out when ESPN anchor Malika Andrews tearfully reported that “women’s reproductive rights [were] being taken away.”
“She’s holding back tears. Where’s her tearful diatribe for my daughter and the daughters of America right now who are getting hurt when playing against biological boys? Why are they crying about abortion on the set of ESPN?”
“The fact that they’re all silent disgusts me, especially because of how vocal they were about, let’s say the overturning of Roe v. Wade and women’s rights. I mean, hello, there were people on our airwaves talking about that,” Steele said.
Steele, who joined ESPN in 2007 as a television anchor on “SportsCenter,” was suspended by the Disney-owned network in 2021 for comments she made on the “Uncut With Jay Cutler” podcast about COVID-19 vaccinations, how women dress and former President Barack Obama’s racial identity.
She alleged in a 2022 lawsuit that Disney and ESPN retaliated against her for the comments she made. She indicated that the companies had breached her contract and violated her free-speech rights.
“Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” Steele said in a statement on Tuesday. “I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!”
Steele has not stated what her next move will be, but it seems like she will be headed to Fox News fairly soon.
