ESPN's Sage Steele Claims Colleagues Excluded Her From Race Special

Sage Steele

ESPN anchor Sage Steele has told management she believes she was excluded from a special the network aired on race last month because she wasn’t considered by certain Black colleagues to be an authentic voice for the Black community, The Wall Street Journal reports citing a person familiar with the matter.

Steele, one of the network’s most prominent on-air personalities, voiced her concerns to ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro in early June, saying the incident showed the network has a divisive work environment, the person said.

Steele said colleagues told her she was considered for the special by the executive in charge, Michael Fountain, until two of the other on-air personalities involved, Elle Duncan and Michael Eaves, complained, saying Steele wouldn’t be accepted by what they considered the Black community, according to the person familiar with her account to management.

Steele’s critics on social media have accused her of not being supportive enough toward the Black community and being insensitive in her comments about racial-justice protests.

The ESPN special, “The Undefeated Presents Time for Change: We Won’t Be Defeated,” aired on June 24. It was a reflection on race and sports after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis. His death and the subsequent nationwide racial-justice protests triggered debate about race and diversity in the workplace, including at Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and other media outlets.