Sage Steele, the former ESPN sportscaster, appeared as a guest on Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show. During her appearance, Steele offered her initial remarks about her departure from ESPN. She also delved into her perspective on the “hypocrisy” she perceives within ESPN regarding the expression of opinions on present-day events and political matters. Steele talked about her choice to take a stand and shared additional insights.
Steele, who joined the network in 2007, was removed from ESPN broadcasts in 2021 after expressing discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and briefly mentioning Barack Obama concerning her racial identity. Steele filed a lawsuit against the network, alleging that ESPN violated her First Amendment rights and Connecticut state law, which prohibits employers from penalizing employees for exercising their freedom of speech. Additionally, her legal team has accused ESPN of breaching Steele’s contract and intentionally causing her emotional distress.
“I did not want to apologize. I fought, and I fought, and I begged, and I screamed. I was told that I had to apologize if I wanted to keep my job. And I need my job…. I knew there was a line somewhere; I didn’t know what it was until it was crossed,” Steele told Megyn Kelly.
Steele says she hasn’t watched her comments on vaccine mandates in a while.
“Because obviously, there’s been so much ugliness that has come from that podcast as a whole. And those comments, my comments, and by the way, I own everything. Every single thing I said, I would say it again today, and I still believe it,” she said. “Did you see me look to the side at one point? I was, like, ‘Breathe deeply. Don’t say it.’ And because I have a right to my opinion because I complied. I complied. I got it. I got the booster in order to go to the Masters a couple of months later. Like, I did everything. But I’m allowed to have an opinion, I thought.”
“And I’ll say this too, that morning, I had been praying about it, and I asked God for a sign, like, Should I do this? Or should I take a chance and walk away? Will I have another job? Will I be able to keep a roof over the heads of my children? And I said, give me a sign. And I was in the shower, and I opened my eyes, and I looked out, and there’s this tile that, a marble tile that I had seen a million times for a million showers I’ve taken, and for some reason, when I opened my eyes at that moment, the marble was in the form of an angel,” she said.
“And I just said, Oh my, I asked for a sign. And to me, that sign was, You are going to be okay. I got you. And I have strong faith. And for me, at that moment, that’s what I needed. And I drove to the grocery store, and I got the shot, and I sprinted home, and I went on the podcast. And the rest is history,” Steele added.
