Emerson Phillips
ESPN anchor Sage Steele is reportedly suing the network over its handling of comments she made last year about Covid-19 vaccine mandates and former President Barack Obama.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that.Steele alleges ESPN violated her right to free speech when she was made to apologize for the remarks.
Steele’s made the comments on a podcast hosted by former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler. She described vaccine mandates as “sick” and criticized Obama for identifying as Black on a census form “considering his Black dad was nowhere to be found.”
After a brief absence from ESPN’s airwaves – reportedly due to testing positive for coronavirus – Steele apologized for “creating controversy” for the company before later returning as host of the noon edition of SportsCenter.
Steele has worked for ESPN since 2007. In the lawsuit, she says the company arbitrarily applied its rule forbidding employees from discussing political matters without an obvious tie to sports. She also cites several examples where the company did not take action against her colleagues, the WSJ reported.
The suit also claims that Steele has been sidelined from top assignments since the incident, and that her employer has failed to prevent “bullying and harassment” by her coworkers.
In a statement, ESPN said:
“Sage remains a valued contributor on some of ESPN’s highest profile content, including the recent Masters telecasts and anchoring our noon SportsCenter. As a point of fact, she was never suspended.”
