Sage Steele’s 17-year ESPN career ended after criticizing vaccine mandates and questioning Barack Obama’s racial identity, sparking a 10-day suspension; her later defense of biological reality in women’s sports led to termination under Disney’s progressive DEI policies. Facing no support from female colleagues, she exposed ESPN’s politicized environment, where free speech clashes with corporate diversity mandates—highlighting how media now enforces ideological conformity over individual expression. [Automatically generated summary]
Sage Steele worked at ESPN as an anchor, as a host, for almost 17 years, and she was good at her job.
That's why she stayed so long.
But there was one problem.
Sage Steele decided to say what she really thinks, in a pretty gentle, measured way.
But still, for example, in 2021, she went on a podcast and hammered ESPN for its vaccine mandate, called it sick and scary, which it was.
On that same podcast, she committed a real sin, and she asked an obvious question.
Why does Barack Obama call himself black when he's actually biracial?
He's as white as he is black.
Well, you can't say that, it turns out.
ESPN pulled her off the air for 10 days.
Why?
Interesting question.
Then, Steele made ESPN even matter when she said that the man in the bathing suit, Leah Thomas, who was winning all the swimming competitions, was not, in fact, a female swimmer.
So behind the scenes, ESPN said you'd better be quiet about the trans issues.
In fact, sent her a letter saying it's totally fine to talk about trans issues as long as you don't misgender someone.
In other words, you can disagree as long as you don't disagree with the people you're arguing with.
You have to accept the terms of the trans activists you're criticizing or else you're a thought criminal.
Watch this.
unidentified
There was a special, an ESPN special that came out showcasing, you know, Women's History Month.
And this special was surrounding Leah Thomas.
And I just remember thinking to myself, you know, I could not imagine being a woman working there, being asked to report on this issue with a smile on my face and doing it.
And so I just kind of wanted to ask about the support you felt from women since, of course, taking the stands that you have.
None.
None.
I was asked to stop tweeting about it.
I was asked to stop doing anything, saying anything about it on social media because I was None!
And I will say throughout my career, I think that's the overall most disappointing thing is that, and especially in the sports world, where when I started, No internet.
It's just that men are kind of programmed to have affection for women.
I mean, they just are.
unidentified
But I also think they're...
They weren't threatened by me, especially early on in my career.
But even at ESPN, I was excited because where I was before in D.C., I was the only mother.
So I was excited to be around women who are a little bit older and could maybe, you know, part of the club and take care of each other as a mother, first and foremost.
Forget about, you know, the broadcast.
Because that is...
Competitive.
So I think, you know, the big picture is women preach this all the time.
And it's like, oh, the men holding us down in the glass ceiling.
And every time I speak publicly at an event or whatever, I make sure I bring this up because I'm very passionate about it as the mother of two girls.
Yes.
And they're, you know, college age kids, too.
But, you know, we complain about the guys, but look in the mirror.
But then to be hypocritical and go on social media and talk about let's uplift each other.
And listen, I wasn't trying to call people out, but over the last eight months, maybe probably a year, when I started to support Riley Gaines and certainly the whole transgender sports issue, I said, women, we don't realize our power.
If we as women in the media, let's just say women in sports media, because this is a sports issue, came together to say, no, no, no.
We've been fighting for so long for women in sports and for salaries.
To be equal at times, you know, you look at the women's national soccer team versus the men and the ratings they brought in versus the men.
There are some things, yeah, like we are fighting for women.
And then to be silent when it comes here.
Like ESPNW is part of the ESPN network that W is for women.
They spend millions of dollars on a big summit, like a get-together of women every single year.
And on the stage, it's women and promoting women and promoting diverse thought.
With women and supporting them.
So then when the biggest issue really of the last, I don't know, several decades comes up, after all the Title IX fights, we as sports media, women remain silent.
While civil discourse on the issue of transgender athletes competing in women's sports is both appropriate and beneficial, that discourse needs to be fact-based and should not rely on personal attacks, insults, derogatory or crude language, or misgendering others.
So you can disagree as long as you accept their premise.
unidentified
As long as you follow the narrative.
And listen, I knew that, but to me this just was simple and it was a no-brainer.
One of my female relatives of mine said to me the other day, I thought it was kind of brilliant, like the whole trans thing really is just another triumph of men over women.
Does anybody ever say that?
unidentified
I have heard that more recently.
It's amazing how many...
DMs I get and emails through a website or whatever from people, even in the industry, who are like, I wish I could.
And then I think they were like, just take this diploma and leave, please.
Like, you're embarrassing us.
Just go away.
Got the piece of paper.
And then, listen, ESPN was always my goal.
Always my dream.
Wow.
I was 11 when I announced at the dinner table to my parents that I wanted to be a sportscaster.
And I was just super shy.
Girl.
I think all the moving, you know, just throughout my whole life probably made me extra shy.
But then it also, I think, subconsciously taught me that if you want to have friends on the kickball court, you know, at recess, certainly then into corporate America, like, you have to go make that happen.
So when I said I wanted to be a sportscaster, my dad and mom were like, okay.
And this is 1984. There were no women doing this when I was 11, 12 years old.
And they're like, okay, you're going to have to talk if you want to be on TV. So they had to really push me out of my comfort zone and push through that fear of being unliked, disliked.
Unliked is not a word.
See, English language.
Disliked.
If I'm myself, and that's why I was just shy.
And as a biracial young woman, my mom's white, Irish-Italian, my dad's black.
You felt different.
You were not enough for here and not enough for this side either.
So there's a lot of confusion.
So I look back and I'm grateful for being really uncomfortable and having great parents to push me through those times when I had this dream, but they were like, you're going to have to work extra hard.
And in the end, you learn, I think it's fair to say, whatever TV network you work for, whatever company you work for, they don't really care about you.
And then that president was ousted, a little drama, and then the new president came in, and I think it was 2017, Jimmy Pitaro, and he agreed, and it was great.
And he kind of threw the line in the sand, like, we're not doing this.
We want everybody to watch.
And then the pandemic hit, and then George Floyd happened, and...
And so we're live on The View, ABC. You know, we're all the same family.
And said, well, why do you choose to say you're biracial?
And I said, and she goes, Barack Obama doesn't.
And I said, okay.
I said, I think it's interesting for the president to, you know, completely forget about the fact or ignore the fact that he was raised by his white mother and white grandmother.
And his black father was nowhere to be found.
Now, that wasn't breaking news.
He wrote a book about that.
I'm not criticizing.
I'm saying these will be facts.
So to me, it was interesting that he chose to completely ignore his white side and identify as black.
My personal opinion, which I've never really said publicly, is, OK, this was planned.
This was political.
Everyone knew what they were doing when they were.
He's coming up through Chicago.
They had a plan for Obama for many, many, many years.
But I did say, you do you.
I'm going to do me.
And I. I don't know.
I'm pretty sure my white mother was there the day I was born.
There's nothing personal, but these are just the facts of what happened and then what led to the 2021. Yeah, there were several people.
In 2014, Twitter, I don't think, was what it is now, X, and certainly how crazy it's gotten.
But I did get some...
Listen.
Throughout my life, the most criticism I've received, especially since probably 2016, 2017, when I've given opinions on things, the most criticism I've received is, unfortunately, from people who look like me, from the black community.
And so the criticism that day in 2014 was, well, she's a sellout and look at her white husband and, you know, all of these things.
And so that used to break me.
That used to really devastate me.
Wow.
When you're a biracial kid growing up and you're, you know, you kind of are told you have to choose sides.
And I never did.
My parents...
Gave me that strength, despite the shyness, to say, no, no, no, this is who I am.
And why is that bad?
Not knowing that 30 years later, this would be such a controversial thing.
But, you know, so I was just recapping that story in 2021 and reiterated it.
And then that, me describing what happened with Barbara Walters, turned into, in 2021, Sage Steele hates Black people and thinks Barack Obama should not identify as Black.
Maybe I'm overthinking or perhaps underthinking it, but it does seem very strange.
I thought the whole point of the melting pot idea was that we're all people inside and that the left is certainly not against people of different races getting together and having children.
I don't think they're against that, are they?
They don't seem to be.
So why would they get mad if you say, I'm the product of...
Of mixed-race marriage.
I just think it's like the craziest thing I've ever heard.
unidentified
You know that one drop rule we've heard for years, which I guess I just don't care enough.