Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele commented that when she chose to stand up to men who identify as women in sports, she received zero support from women in the industry.
Steele, who appeared on “The Tucker Carlson Encounter,” responded to a clip in which former swimmer Riley Gaines asked Steele how much support he had received from women in his profession.
“Nothing,” Steele replied.
The former ESPN employee said she was excited to join the company years ago because she thought she would have a common sense of camaraderie with other female employees, especially other mothers.
“I was excited to be part of a club with a group of slightly older women who took care of each other as mothers first and foremost,” she recalled.
But when I tried to get support from my colleagues, they didn’t practice what they preached.
“Forget about broadcasting, because it’s a competition. The big picture is that women are always preaching about this and it’s like, ‘Oh, the men are holding us down, it’s a glass ceiling.’ ” she explained.
Steele said she felt female bosses pitted female employees against each other, and when it came to support, she wondered where many of her colleagues thought they would support women when they started talking about various taboo issues. He also said he couldn’t find it. Do it on social media.
“They pit us against each other, they really do…OK, fine, it’s natural that you don’t like other women, but then you hypocritically go on social media and say, ‘Let’s lift each other up.’ Stop talking to me,” she continued. Steele supported Gaines and when she started talking about transgender issues, she noted, “women in sports media remained silent.”
“For me, the hypocrisy was too thick to ignore.”
Disney’s banishment of Steele from ESPN began with an appearance on former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler’s podcast. September 2021.
During the show, Steele criticized ESPN’s vaccine mandate and spoke about Barack Obama’s ethnicity, among other things.
“I respect your decision, I really do, but making it mandatory is disgusting and scary in many ways,” Steele said of the vaccine. “I’m not surprised that things have gotten this far, especially with Disney. I mean, it’s such a global company.”
She also commented on how Obama identified himself as black on the census despite being biracial, half black and half white, like herself.
“I’m like, ‘Congratulations, Mr. President. That’s the president’s job.'” Given that his black father is nowhere to be found and his white mother and grandmother raised him. , I think this is interesting. But hey, you are you. I’m going to do me,” Steele said.
This comment, along with her stance on transgender athletes, appears to have prompted a warning in the form of a letter from ESPN, asking her not to “misgender” athletes during conversations.
Mr. Steele resigned from the company after settling the lawsuit.
“Now that the lawsuit with ESPN/Disney has been successfully resolved, I have decided to retire so that I can more freely exercise my First Amendment rights,” she wrote. X. “I am grateful for the many wonderful experiences I have had over the past 16 years and am excited for the next chapter!”
Steele argued that there was a difference between “attacking the transgender community and supporting women,” and it was clear that she was willing to lose her job to make that stance.
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