ESPN’s failure to broadcast National Anthem at Sugar Bowl makes former anchor Sage Steele glad she left
From the time she was a child, Sage Steele wanted to be a sportscaster. And after years of climbing the ladder, she landed her “dream job” at ESPN in 2007. Nearly 17 years later, however, it all came to a screeching halt when Steele left the sports network after settling lawsuits she filed against both ESPN and its owner, Disney. What happened to make Steele leave the job she loved at one the top sports networks in the world? Anyone who watches ESPN and/or Disney already knows the answer to that question. Wokeness is what happened. “These [ESPN] executives talk so much about DEI and, you know, inclusiveness and accountability and accepting, and then when it came time for me to have my own opinions off the air on my private time — I never crossed that line; I was a sportscaster, not a political analyst — that's when I got punished. And when I got punished for being me when the others were allowed to talk about abortion on an NBA show, that's when I said, 'Okay, enough,'” Steele told Blaze News Tonight’s Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson at AmericaFest two weeks ago. What opinions did Steele share that landed her in hot water with the network? It all started when on a podcast with Jay Cutler, Steele expressed her displeasure with being forced to get the COVID vaccine. “That day that I recorded that podcast — mid-September 2021 — was the last day possible for me to become fully vaccinated to comply with ESPN/Disney's vaccine mandate policy. I waited to the very last moment to get it because I was contemplating walking away from my entire career over the jab,” she recounted. “I didn't have the ability to walk away financially, nor did I want to (I love my job), and so I literally came [to Cutler's podcast] from this stupid grocery store where I had gotten my shot sobbing because I felt forced.” When Cutler asked her about the bandage on her arm and her tears, she candidly told him the truth: “I think it's sick and scary for any company, employer, business to force their people to do something to their bodies.” Before she knew it, her assignments were taken away, and she was suspended and taken off the air. Thankfully, she didn’t bend the knee. Although Steele calls the events that led to her departure from ESPN as “devastating,” she is grateful for the new path it has set her down. “I have this crazy platform just from talking about sports. What a waste it would have been to stay quiet,” she told Jill and Matthew. She is also glad to have her name removed from a company that due to “timing issues” didn’t broadcast the National Anthem at the Sugar Bowl last week, even though it was sung by New Orleans native Samyra in the wake of the Bourbon Street terrorist attack that left 14 dead. In response to the scandal, Steele tweeted the following. To hear more about Steele’s tumultuous exit from ESPN and the exciting path she’s leading now, watch the clip above. Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
From the time she was a child, Sage Steele wanted to be a sportscaster. And after years of climbing the ladder, she landed her “dream job” at ESPN in 2007.
Nearly 17 years later, however, it all came to a screeching halt when Steele left the sports network after settling lawsuits she filed against both ESPN and its owner, Disney.
What happened to make Steele leave the job she loved at one the top sports networks in the world?
Anyone who watches ESPN and/or Disney already knows the answer to that question. Wokeness is what happened.
“These [ESPN] executives talk so much about DEI and, you know, inclusiveness and accountability and accepting, and then when it came time for me to have my own opinions off the air on my private time — I never crossed that line; I was a sportscaster, not a political analyst — that's when I got punished. And when I got punished for being me when the others were allowed to talk about abortion on an NBA show, that's when I said, 'Okay, enough,'” Steele told Blaze News Tonight’s Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson at AmericaFest two weeks ago.
What opinions did Steele share that landed her in hot water with the network? It all started when on a podcast with Jay Cutler, Steele expressed her displeasure with being forced to get the COVID vaccine.
“That day that I recorded that podcast — mid-September 2021 — was the last day possible for me to become fully vaccinated to comply with ESPN/Disney's vaccine mandate policy. I waited to the very last moment to get it because I was contemplating walking away from my entire career over the jab,” she recounted. “I didn't have the ability to walk away financially, nor did I want to (I love my job), and so I literally came [to Cutler's podcast] from this stupid grocery store where I had gotten my shot sobbing because I felt forced.”
When Cutler asked her about the bandage on her arm and her tears, she candidly told him the truth: “I think it's sick and scary for any company, employer, business to force their people to do something to their bodies.”
Before she knew it, her assignments were taken away, and she was suspended and taken off the air. Thankfully, she didn’t bend the knee.
Although Steele calls the events that led to her departure from ESPN as “devastating,” she is grateful for the new path it has set her down.
“I have this crazy platform just from talking about sports. What a waste it would have been to stay quiet,” she told Jill and Matthew.
She is also glad to have her name removed from a company that due to “timing issues” didn’t broadcast the National Anthem at the Sugar Bowl last week, even though it was sung by New Orleans native Samyra in the wake of the Bourbon Street terrorist attack that left 14 dead.
In response to the scandal, Steele tweeted the following.
To hear more about Steele’s tumultuous exit from ESPN and the exciting path she’s leading now, watch the clip above.
Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?
To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Originally Published at Daily Wire, World Net Daily, or The Blaze
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