Sage Steele Canceled - She's not black enough for ESPN's Race Special

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Sage Steele Iced Out Of Race Special After ESPN Colleagues Complain Not ‘Black Enough.’



LINK to WSJ

ESPN anchor Sage Steele has told management she believes she was excluded from a special the network aired on race last month because she wasn’t considered by certain Black colleagues to be an authentic voice for the Black community, a person familiar with the matter said.

Ms. Steele, one of the network’s most prominent on-air personalities, voiced her concerns to ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro in early June, saying the incident showed the network has a divisive work environment, the person said.

Ms. Steele said colleagues told her she was considered for the special by the executive in charge, Michael Fountain, until two of the other on-air personalities involved, Elle Duncan and Michael Eaves, complained, saying Ms. Steele wouldn’t be accepted by what they considered the Black community, according to the person familiar with her account to management.

Ms. Steele’s critics on social media have accused her of not being supportive enough toward the Black community and being insensitive in her comments about racial-justice protests.

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Ms. Steele, a 13-year ESPN veteran and host of the 6 p.m. flagship “SportsCenter,” wasn’t primarily concerned with her exclusion from the special, but rather what she felt have become regular attacks on her character over the past several years because of her views, the person familiar with her account said.

A self-described Army brat whose father is a West Point alumnus and a retired colonel, she has criticized those who don’t stand during the national anthem. She has sometimes called out athletes for off-field missteps.

Recently, she said on air and on social media that most Black athletes were unwilling to criticize Philadelphia Eagles player DeSean Jackson for making anti-Semitic comments. “The silence is deafening,” she said on ESPN. Mr. Jackson later apologized.

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