Sage Steele has become a controversial figure on ESPN as of late. The SportsCenter anchor is one of the few personalities on the network with conservative views, and some of her comments have gotten her into a bit of hot water. For instance, she once made some comments about vaccine mandates that had some people scratching their heads. From there, she had some abhorrent comments about President Barack Obama’s race which had some people up in arms.
“Congratulations to the President. That’s his thing,” she said. “I think that’s fascinating considering his Black dad is nowhere to be found, but his white mom and grandma raised him, but OK. You do you. I’m gonna do me.”
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
After making those comments, Steele was off from SportsCenter for a week and she was also given fewer assignments than before. As a result, she is now suing ESPN, claiming they violated her contract and free speech rights, according to Deadline.
According to the report, the lawsuit says ESPN “violated Connecticut law and Steele’s rights to free speech based upon a faulty understanding of her comments and a nonexistent, unenforced workplace policy that serves as nothing more than pretext.”
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Cisco Systems, Inc.
As it stands, ESPN has yet to comment on the lawsuit. After all, the network is in a difficult position given the fact that Steele is still employed with the network.
[Via]