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Sage Steele suing ESPN over previous 'unlawful' punishments from network
Posted on 4/28/22 at 5:48 pm
Posted on 4/28/22 at 5:48 pm
Apparently there is some Connecticut free speech law that allows her to say whatever she wants outside of work.
Seems her time at network is limited.
Seems her time at network is limited.
quote:
ESPN anchor Sage Steele is suing the Worldwide Leader in sports news for allegedly violating her First Amendment rights to free speech and unlawfully retaliating by forcing her to apologize for remarks she made on a podcast about the COVID-19 vaccination mandate and former President Barack Obama’s race.
Steele, who has had her issues with ESPN in the past, took some forced time off and apologized in October after calling ESPN parent company Disney’s vaccine mandate “sick” and “scary” while discussing it with on-the-record anti-vaxxer and ex-NFL quarterback Jay Cutler.
During her discussion with Cutler on his podcast, the 49-year-old also discussed Obama’s racial identity and speculated he would identify as Black while filling out the U.S. Census because biracial is not an option.
“Congratulations to the president, that’s his thing,” Steele said. “I think that’s fascinating considering his Black dad is nowhere to be found but his white mom and grandma raised him, but okay. You do you. I’m gonna do me. Listen, I’m pretty sure my white mom was there when I was born. And my white family loves me as much as my Black family.”
Given a short benching following her remarks, Steele also issued what she now calls a “humiliating” apology at the time. “We are in the midst of an extremely challenging time that impacts all of us, and it’s more critical than ever that we communicate constructively and thoughtfully,” she wrote.
Now, in her lawsuit, Steele is claiming that her apology was forced and that ESPN violated “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.” Per The Wall Street Journal, the policy mentioned in the suit “bars news personnel from taking positions on political or social issues,” but Steele claims it is only selectively enforced.
“In a knee-jerk reaction, ESPN and Disney relied on the misleading characterizations of her comments, bowed to groupthink and forced Steele to publicly apologize and suspended her for a period of time in October 2021,” according to the suit.
The suit, which is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages due to lost revenue and business opportunities, also alleges ESPN took its actions based on “inaccurate third-party accounts of Steele’s comments, and that the network did not immediately review the actual comments or the context in which they were made.”
Per Steele’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, his client is “standing up to corporate America to ensure employees don’t get their rights trampled on or their opinions silenced.”
In a response, ESPN claimed Steele and her opinions had not been muzzled. “Sage remains a valued contributor on some of ESPN’s highest-profile content, including the recent Masters telecasts and anchoring our noon SportsCenter,” the network said in a statement. “As a point of fact, she was never suspended.”
Regardless of what happens with the lawsuit, a buyout for Steele certainly could be on the way.
This post was edited on 4/28/22 at 5:52 pm
Posted on 4/28/22 at 5:52 pm to Jack Ruby
From a legal standpoint that lawsuit is going nowhere.
It seems like a ploy to get as much negative publicity as possible for a buyout, imo. She must have plans for something else in the next few months.
It seems like a ploy to get as much negative publicity as possible for a buyout, imo. She must have plans for something else in the next few months.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 5:55 pm to Keys Open Doors
If it's true, Her only hope seems to be the State law that protects workers from expressing their opinions outside of work that are supposed to not result in any kind of retaliation from your employer.
This is probably much more about getting her some more name recognition before she becomes a Fox News anchor/personality.
This is probably much more about getting her some more name recognition before she becomes a Fox News anchor/personality.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:02 pm to Jack Ruby
quote:her talent is freaking wasted in Bristol with those ESPN asshats. I hope she bends over the worldwide woke leader in sports
Sage Steele
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:02 pm to Keys Open Doors
She was banking on them firing/very publicly disciplining her over the vaccine stuff so she could set up a wrongful termination suit then settlement on her way to The Blaze or Fox News.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:05 pm to LSUTIGER in TEXAS
quote:
I hope she bends over
She does have a great porn name
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:08 pm to saintsfan22
How do you know that? People say shite like it’s fact
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:08 pm to Mr Personality
Stunned to learn she is not Lexington’s wife
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:18 pm to Tigerpride18
quote:
How do you know that? People say shite like it’s fact
I mean... It's kind of obvious at this point is it not?
She's what conservative networks salivate over... An articluate, smart, attractive female with great broadcasting skills and background thag also happens to be bi-racial.
She's a unicorn.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:19 pm to Jack Ruby
Another step to her becoming a right wing grifter
I don’t know why more hot black and Latin women don’t lean into this. It’s a cash cow
I don’t know why more hot black and Latin women don’t lean into this. It’s a cash cow
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:22 pm to Keys Open Doors
quote:
From a legal standpoint that lawsuit is going nowhere.
Not being a lawyer, I can't say for sure but I do recall cases where selective enforcement by an employer have been the reason for lawsuits like this ending in favor of the plaintiff.
I suspect it will be easy to show that other ESPN hosts have expressed their political beliefs outside of the organization without repercussion because they fit a certain narrative.
We shall see how this plays out.
quote:
It seems like a ploy to get as much negative publicity as possible for a buyout
I have no doubts that is part of this.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:26 pm to Keys Open Doors
quote:
Stunned to learn she is not Lexington’s wife
Nope. She's a conservative black chick married to a white dude. ESPN and the woke love people like her.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:27 pm to Dire Wolf
But the thing with Steele is she already has it made, as one of ESPN’s first tier broadcasters.
The right wing media space is lucrative field but very rarely do you see established people with good careers going that route. And I would be surprised if the Blaze or Daily Wire can match what she was making at espn.
The right wing media space is lucrative field but very rarely do you see established people with good careers going that route. And I would be surprised if the Blaze or Daily Wire can match what she was making at espn.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:30 pm to Jack Ruby
She looks like Misty Stone
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:31 pm to Keys Open Doors
quote:
But the thing with Steele is she already has it made, as one of ESPN’s first tier broadcasters. The right wing media space is lucrative field but very rarely do you see established people with good careers going that route. And I would be surprised if the Blaze or Daily Wire can match what she was making at espn.
Wolfie sees a conservative black woman and automatically sees a grifter because his tiny little lefty brain can't fathom that these women exist in real life.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:32 pm to Jack Ruby
Sign me up for Team Sage.
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:33 pm to Keys Open Doors
quote:
But the thing with Steele is she already has it made, as one of ESPN’s first tier broadcasters.
But she blew that and at the worst time imaginable. As profitable as a right wing grifter is, being the black anchor on GMA is way more.
She had the experience and was at the right company to start pulling down 5-10 mil a year
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:35 pm to mdomingue
quote:
I suspect it will be easy to show that other ESPN hosts have expressed their political beliefs outside of the organization without repercussion because they fit a certain narrative.
If anything past suspensions show they've gone soft on her. Probably because they knew the eventual lawsuit was coming.
This post was edited on 4/28/22 at 6:36 pm
Posted on 4/28/22 at 6:36 pm to saintsfan22
Is she hot?
*I don't watch ESPN other than the occasional game.
*I don't watch ESPN other than the occasional game.
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