Sage Steele, who used to work at ESPN, talked about a big issue in women's swimming. There's a swimmer named Lia Thomas, who is transgender, and she's doing really well in competitions.
But ESPN told Sage not to talk about this. Sage didn't listen because she thinks it's really important to support female athletes like Riley Gaines. Riley used to be a top swimmer and now speaks up for women in sports.
Sage feels so strongly about this that she says it's a cause she's ready to stand up for no matter what.
“I was asked to stop tweeting about it. I was asked to stop doing anything, saying anything about it on social media because I was ‘offending’ others at the company,” Steele recalled. “I made sure I sent off another tweet that night after I received that email. Because, no, let’s stop living in this lie.”
Sage Steele mentioned that ESPN let other famous people who work there talk about different topics, even ones that are about politics and not related to sports. But when it came to her, they told her not to speak about the swimming issue.
She found this unfair because others were allowed to talk about things that weren't about sports, but she wasn't allowed to talk about something that was actually related to sports.
“I’m like, no, no, no, no, no. If we’re gonna preach on ESPN, and all of these things, then I’m gonna stand up for all these women — many of whom are afraid to do what Riley Gaines is doing, to do what I’m doing, at a much lesser level than Riley.”
“I actually said this to myself,” Steele said, “This is a hill I will die on, 100%.”
“These are facts, this is science, this is biology — come at me, tell me I’m wrong, tell me to stop supporting women,” Steele continued. “Go ahead, tell me.”
Last year, Riley Gaines was in a big swimming competition called the NCAA Division I Women's Championships. She swam in the 200 freestyle race and came in fifth. She tied with Lia Thomas, who is a transgender swimmer and used to compete in men's teams.
After the race, there was a moment for pictures, and Thomas was given the trophy for fifth place. Gaines was told that her trophy would be sent to her in the mail.
Sage Steele, who was well-known on ESPN, got into trouble with her job. She was taken off the air and lost some important work assignments at ESPN. This happened after she went on Jay Cutler's podcast called "Uncut" and talked about not liking ESPN and The Walt Disney Co.'s rule that everyone must get the COVID vaccine. Because of this, Sage later decided to sue ESPN.
“Despite fully complying with ESPN’s policy, Sage Steele was punished for speaking her truth in violation of freedom of speech protections under Connecticut law and the U.S. constitution,” her attorney Bryan Freedman said. “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.”
Sage Steele's lawsuit against ESPN was resolved this year. After that, she decided to leave ESPN. She explained on social media that she wanted to have more freedom to speak her mind, which is a right everyone has under the First Amendment.
The First Amendment is a part of the U.S. Constitution that says the government can't stop people from saying what they think or believe. Sage wanted to be able to talk about what she believes without being limited by her job at ESPN.
