ESPN anchor gets intense backlash for complaining about travel ban protests affecting flights

Getty Images, Gerardo Mora/Stringer, Instagram/Sage Steele

ESPN anchor Sage Steele is facing criticism for an Instagram post in which she complained about people protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order at Los Angeles International Airport and disrupting flights.

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Here’s what Steele wrote:

So THIS is why thousands of us dragged luggage nearly 2 miles to get to LAX, but still missed our flights. Fortunately, a 7 hour wait for the next flight to Houston won’t affect me that much, but my heart sank for the elderly and parents with small children who did their best to walk all that way but had no chance of making their flights. I love witnessing people exercise their right to protest! But it saddened me to see the joy on their faces knowing that they were successful in disrupting so many people’s travel plans. Yes, immigrants were affected by this as well. Brilliant. ??

The internet responded negatively to the post on social media.

Steele has since responded to a critic in a separate tweet.

Steele was in the news last February when, during an interview of Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler, the anchor cut off the singer’s health care pitch.

Steele also made news for criticizing NFL wide receiver Mike Evans after he sat during the national anthem last November in protest of Donald Trump’s election.

ESPN has in a few recent cases disciplined employees for things they’ve said on social media and in public.

Reporter Britt McHenry was suspended for a week after she infamously blew up on a towing company employee on camera.

Here’s a list of things she said:

“I’m in the news, sweetheart.”

“I will fucking sue this place.”

“That’s why I have a degree and you don’t.”

“I wouldn’t work in a scumbag place like this.”

“Makes my skin crawl even being here.”

“Yep, that’s all you care about is just taking people’s money. With no education, no skill set, just wanted to clarify that.”

“Do you feel good about your job?

“So I can be a college dropout and do the same thing?”

“Why? Because I have a brain? And you don’t?”

“Maybe if I was missing some teeth they would hire me, huh?”

“‘Cause they [the employee’s teeth] look so stunning … ‘Cause I’m on television and you’re in a fucking trailer, honey.”

“Lose some weight, baby girl.”

ESPN also fired analyst Curt Schilling in 2016 for his well-documented activity on social media.

The sports network reminded its employees in December of company social media guidelines:

There’s a higher volume of individuals stating their political point of view on social media, which is a challenge to manage. But they are citizens first and we try to provide guidelines about that commentary… We note in our social media guidelines, for example, that common sense should rule. The first thing is to think before you tweet. The second is to think before you retweet. We remind reporters and analysts that they representing ESPN at all times, though we understand there’s going to be a level of political discussion.

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