Megyn Kelly spoke with Sage Steele about her now-settled lawsuit against Disney-owned ESPN on Wednesday. Steele became a pariah at ESPN after she sat for an interview in 2021. During that interview, we were still in the grips of pandemic intolerance, with many COVID cultists claiming that we needed to mask forever and boost every other month. Steele’s interview was with former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler. In March 2022, I wrote:
This interview is not controversial unless you are an ESPN C Suite resident or a Kool-Aid drinking member of the Church for the Perpetually Offended, which includes a large number of people.
It was her comments about Obama that riled up the church members. Steele, who is biracial, recounted that she was told by another ESPN host to pick a race. White, or Black – pick one. The podcast host, Jay Cutler told her that the Census Bureau allowed people to select only one race and that Obama, who’s also biracial, had chosen Black.
Steele said:
Well, congratulations to President Obama. It’s just what he does. This is fascinating to me, particularly since his Black dad was nowhere in sight, and he was raised by his White mom and grandma. Whatever, you do you and I will do me.
Steele said that Obama chose the race of an unknown parent.
Steele was an Army brat who grew up in overseas bases. She described her upbringing as one of honor, faithfulness, and loyalty to God and her family. Her white grandfathers disowned her when she married a black man. Gary Steele’s father wrote to Sage’s husband’s parents to update them on Sage’s progress.
Sage told Kelly that Mona, Sage’s mother, also had an indomitable and unbreakable desire to do the right thing. ”
Sage describes her path to success as anything but ideal. Her climb to the top of ESPN’s talent pool, SportsCenter, was not smooth.
The building collapsed.
She apologized live to ESPN viewers after calling Obama biracial and COVID “test”. The first option was not enough.
ESPN retracted and marginalized her assignments. People she thought were her “friends” openly attacked her. One NLF analyst refused to invite her to SportsCenter. Hallie Berry refused to interview Steele. The interview was canceled.
Instead, ESPN did exactly the opposite. Producers claimed publicly that Steele “wronged herself” for having her opinion. This did not align with their often publicized and woke-leftist message. Network commentators and anchors repeat the same scripted messaging over and over. Not only were these opinions “tolerated “—they were encouraged.
Her daughters have been raped. Those tolerant liberals.
Kelly and Steele provided an example of ESPN’s leftist slant and its political pandering. The two also displayed blatant hypocrisy when they described how ESPN personalities reacted to Florida’s passage of the Parental Rights in Education Act. ESPN Commentators claimed that, along with the Network, they were “allies” of the alphabet soup crowd. Then they announced that ESPN will remain on the air but observe a minute of silence. In response to Florida’s passage of the Parental Rights in Education Act, a moment of silence, similar in feeling to grief.
ESPN will not tolerate conservative opinions and factual observations. Sage said that she noticed this even before the Cutler Interview. It was clear that ESPN wouldn’t allow anodyne facts such as Barack Obama’s half-white status to be stated in public. This is true when they’re on their own time. Steele claims that ESPN won’t allow them to make common sense statements like saying that men shouldn’t be competing against women.
Steele filed a lawsuit against ESPN claiming the company created a hostile work environment and was retaliating. The settlement agreement included a nondisclosure provision. Sage Steele cannot reveal the amount of the settlement. I estimate it to be between $30 and $40 million. Sage Steele earned $3 million a year.
ESPN did not have a strong case to bring to court. Connecticut law prohibits employers to discriminate or retaliate based on an employee’s personal opinions and views.
Steele shared with Megyn Kelly two things “The Colonel”, Steele’s dad, did to make the Steele Family a trademark.
1. Take the harder right, rather than the easier wrong.
2. Never tell a half-truth when the whole can be won.
Sage Steele and her family, including Gary and Mona Steele and Sage Steele herself are to be commended.
