Broadcaster Sage Steele left ESPN, both the company and Steele announced Tuesday. The anchor said her decision was so she could exercise her First Amendment Rights “more freely” after settling a lawsuit she filed last year.
“Life update. Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely. I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!” she posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Steele sued ESPN after she said she was “sidelined” for making controversial comments blasting ESPN’s Covid vaccination policy and questioning former President Barack Obama’s racial identity during a podcast.
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.
During an episode of the “Uncut With Jay Cutler” podcast with Cutler, a former Chicago Bears quarterback, Steele said she had just been vaccinated and referred to ESPN’s vaccination mandate as “sick.”
Steele also accused former “The View” host Barbara Walters of belittling her for identifying as biracial. Steele told Cutler that during a conversation with Walters, she asked Steele what race she would choose on her census.
When Steele responded, “well, both,” she said Walters then made a comment about Obama choosing Black.
“And I’m like, well, congratulations to the president,” Steele said on the podcast. “That’s his thing. I think that’s fascinating considering his Black dad was nowhere to be found but his white mom and grandma raised him. But hey, you do you, I’m going to do me.”
Shortly after the podcast, ESPN announced that she had been taken off the air.
Steele said in her lawsuit that her comments on the podcast sparked a media frenzy and said ESPN, acting in a knee-jerk reaction, “relied on the misleading characterizations of her comments,” forced her to publicly apologize and then suspended her for a period of time in October 2021. ESPN, however, denied ever suspending her.
Elisha Fieldstadt contributed.