Photo: Mike Windle
Longtime SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele announced she's leaving ESPN following the settlement of her case against the network and The Walt Disney Company, in a post shared on social media Tuesday (August 15) morning.
"Life update. Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely. I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter! #SteeleStrong," Steele wrote on her X account.
Steele, 50, made her ESPN debut in 2007 and was a mainstay on SportsCenter, the network's flagship show, but claimed she was "sidelined" in 2021 due to remarks made about the network's COVID-19 policy, as well as comments she made regarding former President Barack Obama's ethnic identity.
The anchor filed a lawsuit claiming ESPN and its parent company, Disney, violated both her contract and free speech rights. ESPN reported offered Steele a $501,000 settlement in June, according to Front Office Sports, which her attorney, Bryan Freedman, condemned in a statement to the New York Post.
“Disney and ESPN clearly admit their liability by offering to pay Sage Steele more than half a million dollars for taking away her right to free speech," Freedman said. "The offer misses the point. Disney cannot purchase their employee’s constitutional rights no matter how powerful they think they are,” Freedman told The Post in a statement.
“How about apologizing and treating people fairly? Let me put it this way, would Disney be willing to accept money from the state of Florida and Governor DeSantis in exchange for being silenced? Why the double standard?”
Steele didn't provide any additional details about her future plans.
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