Sage Steele has left ESPN. The SportsCenter host took to X Tuesday morning to announce that she had settled her lawsuit with the network and has decided to move on.
“I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” Steele wrote. “I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!”
Steele has been at ESPN since March of 2007. In addition to SportsCenter, she also anchored NBA Countdown for the network and contributed to coverage of The Masters and the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Working for Disney also gave her the opportunity to host programs for ABC including the Miss America pageant and several editions of The View.
An outspoken conservative, Steele had drawn the ire of the network and her colleagues for comments made about Covid-19 and President Obama’s heritage during a 2021 appearance on the podcast Uncut with Jay Cutler.
She was off the air shortly after that. While she was diagnosed with Covid-19, she and her lawyers filed suit against the network claiming that she was the victim of bullying and had prime assignments taken away from her in the wake of the backlash to her comments.
Sage Steele is now a free agent in the media space. She will certainly have options. Outkick founder Clay Travis has been outspoken in his belief that she should land at FOX News.
