Longtime Sports Anchor Sage Steele Exits ESPN
Veteran ESPN sportscaster Sage Steele has announced that she is leaving the worldwide leader in sports after settling her lawsuit with her employer.
Steele’s lawsuit stems from a 2021 suspension issued by ESPN after the SportsCenter anchor publicly rallied against the network’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and questioned Barack Obama’s decision to identify as Black.
Steele Sues ESPN
In her suit, Steele alleged that ESPN violated her contract by “sidelining” her following the comments. Additionally, she argued that her 1st Amendment rights were violated.
“In a knee-jerk reaction, ESPN and Disney relied on the misleading characterizations of her comments, bowed to groupthink and forced Steele to publicly apologize and suspended her for a period of time in October 2021,” the suit said.
Settlement and Exit
On X (formally known as Twitter), Steele announced that she had settled her case with ESPN and was now leaving the network.
“Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” Steele wrote. ” I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!”
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
Despite the note that her tenure ended on, ESPN released a statement thanking Steele for her contributions to the network.
“ESPN and Sage Steele have mutually agreed to part ways. We thank her for her many contributions over the years,” the network said in a statement.
With Disney enacting a 1st Amendment lawsuit of their own against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, some legal observers had questioned how the company would argue both sides of a free speech debate.
Now that Steele’s case has been settled, Disney can focus on their case against DeSantis without the appearance of hypocrisy.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Thanks for reading!