Friday, March 29, 2024

ESPN Host Sage Steele Sues Network for Violating Her Free Speech

Sage Steele
Sage Steele (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Bullseye Event Group)

*SportsCenter’s Sage Steele is taking legal action against her employer ESPN and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co., for allegedly violating her right to free speech. 

In her complaint, per Complex, Steele notes that she was sidelined by the network after she appeared on a third-party podcast and made comments about Barack Obama’s racial background. She also criticized ESPN’s coronavirus policy, and talked about sexism in the workforce. 

Her controversial comments were made on a September 2021 episode of the “Uncut With Jay Cutler” podcast. Steele alleges that on Oct. 4, 2021, the network informed her she would be “taking a break” (suspended) amid fallout from her remarks. 

When she returned to the job in mid-October, Steele claims she lost a number of highly coveted assignments, something she perceived to be retaliation. According to the court filing, Steele claims ESPN condemned her comments while ignoring controversial statements made by other employees.

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“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,” the suit read. “… It is clear that ESPN selectively enforces its policies based on whether it agrees with the political views of the employees in question.”

Per the report, the lawsuit notes that under Connecticut law, private employers can not discipline employees for “engaging in constitutionally protected speech, whether that speech takes place in the workplace or outside of it.”

Steele claims that after she complained about the retaliation to HR the “Defendants suddenly offered Steele the opportunity to co-host ESPN’s coverage of The Masters Tournament, in a blatant admission of their culpability and prior misconduct and in an attempt to cover up their violation of her rights and to avoid liability,” per the lawsuit. 

“Steele was punished for speaking her truth in violation of freedom of speech protections under Connecticut law and the U.S. constitution,” said Steele’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman. “ESPN violated her free speech rights, retaliated against her, reprimanded her, scapegoated her, allowed the media and her peers to excoriate her and forced her to apologize simply because her personal opinions did not align with Disney’s corporate philosophy of the moment. Sage is standing up to corporate America to ensure employees don’t get their rights trampled on or their opinions silenced.”

ESPN responded to the suit in a statement to Deadline: “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.”

Steele is seeking unspecified damages.

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