ESPN Anchor Sage Steele Leaves Network, Cites Need for More Free Speech

Television personality Sage Steele speaks during the SXSW event in Austin, Texas, on March 9, 2018. Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Cisco Systems, Inc.

Longtime ESPN SportsCenter co-anchor Sage Steele, who ruffled feathers by denouncing the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, has announced she’s leaving the network so that she can be less constrained in the expression of her First Amendment rights.

Ms. Steele said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that her decision to leave the network comes after setting her lawsuit with ESPN and its corporate parent Walt Disney.

“Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” she wrote in the message. “I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter.”

ESPN said in a statement that the two had “mutually agreed to part ways” while thanking her for her “many contributions” during her 16 years at the network.

Ms. Steele, who has faced backlash for her public remarks including calling ESPN’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate “sick” and “scary,” sued both ESPN and The Walt Disney Co. for allegedly violating her contract and her free speech rights.

Details of the settlement were not immediately available.

Sage Steele speaks onstage during an event in Phoenix, Arizona, on Feb. 12, 2023. Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Bullseye Event Group

‘Sick’ Vaccine Mandate

In her lawsuit, Ms. Steele claimed that ESPN “sidelined” her after she told a podcast that she opposed the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and felt “defeated” after getting the jab so she could keep her job.

“Well, I got my shot today,” Ms. Steele told former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler on his “Uncut With Jay Cutler“ podcast.

“I didn’t want to do it,” she said. “But I work for a company that mandates it, and I have until Sept. 30 to get it done, or I’m out.”

In July 2021, The Walt Disney Co., which co-owns ESPN, announced its decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all salaried employees and nonunion hourly workers.

Earlier in May, ESPN told its 5,500 traveling staff members that they must be fully vaccinated by Aug. 1, 2021, a move the company said aimed to ensure compliance with various vaccination regulations imposed by sporting events and venues.

“I respect everyone’s decision. I really do. But to mandate it is sick,” Ms. Steele said during the podcast. “It’s one thing with masks, and I don’t have a problem with that. It’s another thing when you force this.”

“It’s scary to me in many ways, but I have a job that I love and frankly a job that I need,” she continued, discussing her decision to get the vaccine. “I’m not surprised that it got to this point, especially with Disney, I mean a global company like that.”

Disney faced backlash—and a lawsuit—for forcing its employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, though the company later put that policy on hold.

Ms. Steele said during the podcast that the experience of getting the vaccine was “emotional.”

“It’s funny, everyone else has their ‘hey look, here’s my card,’” but Ms. Steele said being pressured to get the shot was far from a winning feeling.

Challenging Obama’s Racial Identity

Ms. Steele also questioned former President Barack Obama’s racial identity during the same podcast with Mr. Cutler.

She questioned the fact that President Obama identifies as black in light of the circumstances of his upbringing while she, on census forms, ticks boxes that identify her as biracial.

“Congratulations to the President, that’s his thing,” she said. “I think that’s fascinating considering his black dad is nowhere to be found, but his white mom and grandma raised him, but OK. You do you. I’m gonna do me.”

On the podcast, Ms. Steele also said that women who wear revealing clothing at work should take more accountability for their dress in light of sexist remarks.

“When you dress like that, I’m not saying you deserve the gross comments, but you know what you’re doing when you put that outfit on, too,” Ms. Steele said. “We need to be responsible as women, too. We know what we’re doing when we put certain things on.”

After Ms. Steele made the remarks, she said ESPN removed her from “prime assignments” though the company has denied that it ever suspended her.

“At ESPN, we embrace different points of view—dialogue and discussion makes this place great,” ESPN said in a statement provided to Deadline. “That said, we expect that those different points of view be expressed respectfully, in a manner consistent with our values, and in line with our internal policies. We are having direct conversations with Sage and those conversations will remain private.”

Ms. Steele acknowledged her role in the situation in a statement: “I know my recent comments caused controversy for the company, and I apologize,” she said in a statement relayed by ESPN. “We are in the midst of an extremely challenging time that impacts all of us, and it’s more critical than ever that we communicate constructively and thoughtfully.”

In the course of Ms. Steele’s lawsuit, ESPN and Disney offered to settle the claim for $501,000 plus attorney’s fees, per a filing (pdf).

The ESPN/Disney lawyers wrote in the filing that the offer should “not be construed as an admission that defendants are liable for any of the claims asserted in this action, or that plaintiff has suffered any damage as a result of any of those claims.”

Shortly after the filing was submitted, Ms. Steele’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, told the New York Post that the offer missed its mark in part because there was no admission of liability nor any apology.

“How about apologizing and treating people fairly?” Mr. Freedman said in the statement.

“Disney and ESPN clearly admit their liability by offering to pay Sage Steele more than half a million dollars for taking away her right to free speech,” Mr. Freedman stated.

“The offer misses the point. Disney cannot purchase their employee’s constitutional rights no matter how powerful they think they are.”