Longtime ESPN anchor Sage Steele has decided to leave the network after settling her free-speech lawsuit, she tweeted Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Steele alleged in the 2022 complaint that ESPN breached her contract and violated her civil rights after she was temporarily taken off the air following remarks she made on a podcast in September 2021.
- ESPN — and its parent company The Walt Disney Company, which was also named as a defendant — filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in June 2022. ESPN offered Steele around $500,000 to settle in June of this year.
- The 50-year-old Steele tweeted that she decided to leave ESPN so she can “exercise (her) first amendment rights more freely.”
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!#SteeleStrong— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) August 15, 2023
What could be next for Steele?
A settlement seemed inevitable in this case — and both parties offered respectful comments on the way out. (ESPN declined to disclose any financial terms.) As for what’s next for Steele professionally, she did not mention specifics in her tweet beyond being excited for a next chapter.
What will be that next chapter? Well, she has a long history of hosting prominent studio shows including an extended run as a “SportsCenter” host and as the host of “NBA Countdown” on ESPN and ABC from 2013 through 2017. That’s a resume sports employers would be interested in. Away from sports, she’s been a guest on ABC’s “The View” and it would not be surprising if political and social commentary are part of whatever professional portfolio comes next. — Deitsch
Backstory
Steele’s lawsuit, filed April 28, 2022, contended that ESPN retaliated against her, created a hostile work environment by failing to act on her co-workers’ actions, declined to correct reports that she had been suspended and forced her to apologize by warning she would be fired otherwise.
“Steele was punished not only for exercising her constitutional right to free speech but because of the content of that speech,” her lawsuit alleged.
In its motion to dismiss, ESPN said its choices of who appears on-air, not to react to negative feedback Steele’s peers at the company had toward her and forcing her to apologize are covered under the First Amendment.
ESPN noted Steele made three remarks, “one of which the public perceived as racist, one of which the public perceived as sexist and the other of which disparaged her employer.”
On the “Uncut With Jay Cutler” podcast, Steele said female journalists are sometimes harassed because of what they choose to wear; that it’s strange that former President Barack Obama identifies as Black because his Black father was absent from his childhood and he was raised by his White mother and grandmother and that ESPN made a “sick” decision in mandating its employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In response, former NFL player and ESPN personality Ryan Clark refused to appear on-air with her; an ESPN executive at the espnW: Women + Sports Summit told attendees the network had elected to have Steele “sit this one out” and “SportsCenter” anchor Nicole Briscoe posted comments that were critical of Steele.
Steele was taken off the air for much of October 2021, though ESPN argued it never characterized sidelining her as a suspension.
ESPN also disclosed in court papers that Steele had been scheduled to interview actress Halle Berry at the women’s forum, but representatives for the actress communicated she would only attend if Steele did not interview her. Malika Andrews interviewed Berry at the Oct. 18, 2021, event.
In a separate affidavit, another ESPN executive wrote that the V Foundation, which ESPN owns in conjunction with the cancer charity, asked that Steele be taken off the annual fundraiser program.
“The event organizers asked ESPN to take Steele off the event because they perceived her comments about the COVID-19 vaccine as ‘anti-science’ and the Foundation’s mission is to raise funds for cancer research,” wrote Norby Williamson, executive vice president and executive editor of production at ESPN.
(Photo: Mike Coppola / Getty Images for Bleacher Ball)
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