Sage Steele, who sparked controversy over her comments about vaccine mandates, female sports reporters, and former President Barack Obama’s racial identity, left ESPN after settling a lawsuit.
Steele, who joined ESPN in 2007, was removed from the network’s air in 2021 following comments she made on Jay Cutler’s podcast. While talking about ESPN’s company vaccine mandate, Steele said she respects an individual’s decision to get the Covid-19 vaccine “but to mandate it is sick, and it’s scary to me.”
She also questioned Obama’s decision to identify as Black on the census. She further talked about female sports reporters and sexual harassment, saying that women need to “be responsible” and it “isn’t just on players and athletes and coaches to act a certain way.”
She apologized for the comments, but last year filed a lawsuit against the network alleging that it had retaliated against her over her remarks and that her right to free speech had been violated.
This week, Steele appeared on “The Megyn Kelly Show” to speak on her punishment and admitted she was “scared” to return to work following the ban.
“I was mad, but more than anything, I was devastated because I had been such a good soldier, such a good employee for 17 years and proud of it,” Steele told Kelly, via Awful Announcing. “I was scared to go back to work when I got off of my suspension. I was so scared. Because I had been made to believe that everybody hated me. And you don’t just walk back in and work, you walk back in and you have to perform on live national television in front of millions of people.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
She further added she was “shaking” before her return to work as she realized the gravity of going back while suing her employer while still working for them.
“That’s what I’m most proud of, is that I was able to compartmentalize much better than I ever dreamt,” Steele told Kelly. “And to have this ongoing for 22 months, from the beginning, from when I was first punished, to Monday, I went back in there and I stood tall and had great conversations with producers and was passionate about every single interview, every single segment. You can ask them. It’s just what I’ve done my whole life. Why am I going to stop just because there’s this other crap going on, as wrong as it might be. But I walked in there every day, and I did it.”
Her final day at the Worldwide Leader was July 27. ESPN said in a statement that the two “mutually agreed to part ways.”
“We thank her for her many contributions over the years,” the company said.
Steele has announced her next career move, but most people feel like she will ultimately end up as some type of contributor on Fox News in the future.
