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Thursday, April 28, 2022

Sports Anchor Sage Steele Sues ESPN


ESPN anchor Sage Steele is suing the network for violating her free-speech rights after she was benched for publicly criticizing her employer's COVID-19 vaccine mandate and former President Barack Obama's decision to call himself black. 

During her appearance on former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler's podcast, Uncut with Jay Cutler, Steele criticized Covid-19 vaccine mandates, questioned why former President Barack Obama identifies as Black when he is, like her, biracial, and said female sports journalists are partly to blame for athletes making inappropriate comments about them if they dress a certain way. ESPN required Steele to apologize for her comments. 

She claims ESPN illegally benched her over commentary she made as a private citizen, reports The Daily Mail. 

Steele alleged ESPN retaliated against Steele by taking away 'prime assignments' and failing to put and end to bullying and harassment from her colleagues. The SportsCenter host also accused ESPN of taking actions against her based on 'inaccurate third-party accounts of Steele's comments, and that the network did not immediately review the actual comments or the context in which they were made.' Steele is seeking unspecified damages. 

The suit follows political and social remarks Steele made last September. She slammed her company's vaccine policy and questioned former President Barack Obama's blackness.

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