Stephen A. Smith doesn’t think a corporation should be in the business of silencing its employees. He also isn’t entirely convinced that is what happened to Sage Steele at ESPN.
On the Monday edition of the Stephen A. Smith Show, the ESPN host expressed admiration for Steele. He also lauded Megyn Kelly and said she did a good job conducting Steele’s first interview following her ESPN exit. He added though that he he disagreed with Steele’s characterization of the events.
“In fairness, I reached out to Sage Steele to let her know that I don’t necessarily vibe with her assertion that there were different rules for her than everybody else,” he said. “But I do not deny that she’s very passionate about what she feels. She’s not faking it. And she certainly had her examples to point to. And in fairness to her, I have to recognize that she feels the way that she felt.”
Smith claimed to be speaking from personal experience with the network. He says there are times that he has made social or political statements that were met with backlash from his bosses and other times when they were not mentioned to him at all.
“The rules are different depending on the circumstances and the situation which are analyzed and dissected on a case by case basis by ESPN. I would know because it happens to me all the time. Certain issues are bigger than others.”
Sage Steele is an outspoken conservative. Her lawsuit against ESPN stemmed from the belief that she was silenced and retaliated against after expressing opinions on the company’s Covid vaccine policy and Barack Obama’s heritage on Jay Cutler’s podcast Uncut in 2021.
Smith did not specify which subject was the red line for ESPN bosses, but he said that any publicly traded company has to pay attention to backlash and how it affects the bottom line, and courting controversy is not something ESPN was going to tolerate from someone in Steele’s role.
“Different circumstances call for different actions and reactions, also different roles. You’re a pundit on ESPN’s First Take, paid to give your opinions? That’s entirely different than being the host of SportsCenter. And there’s a different responsibility that comes along with that.”
