Sage Steele spent 16 years working for ESPN, but made the decision to leave the network over alleged violations of her freedom of speech, according to the Washington Stand.

Steele spoke out against vaccine mandates, race, so-called transgender people in sports, the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, and other topics that hit close to her heart as a Christian and conservative. She was eventually pulled into a private meeting with ESPN’s leadership and told to shut her mouth.

“All I ever wanted was consistency,” Steele said of the situation. “And if we are allowing my peers to go on social media — much less on our own airwaves — saying things … that have nothing to do with sports that are political … then I should be allowed on my personal time to give my opinion on my experiences personally, without telling others what to do. … [T]here were different rules for me than everyone else.”

Fighting For Our Right For Free Speech

After being sent home for decrying the network’s vaccine mandates, Steele fought to earn her job back. “I fought. I fought and I begged and I screamed, and I was told that if I want to keep my job, I have to apologize. … I knew there was a line somewhere. I just didn’t know where it was until I crossed it,” she continued.

But when she returned to work, things had only gotten worse. “You can’t have it both ways. You can’t preach diversity and equity and inclusion and tolerance, and then cut people off because they don’t believe the way that you say they’re supposed to believe because of the color of their skin or their gender. It is wrong. And I’m done,” she said.

Her Purpose

“I feel like God has put me here for a reason,” Steele said in late August. “Not just the way He made me, but … to get out there and have this conversation and to call out the hypocrisy, because that is what it is. And until someone has the courage to call it out on a larger platform, this will continue. And frankly, there are so many people who are afraid to speak up.”

“Normally, you know, especially for a biracial woman who had made it in a man’s industry, the Left would be celebrating you for speaking so openly and taking it. But no, you said the wrong thing. You see, you’re entitled to an opinion just so long as it aligns with their views on race. That’s the problem. Even you as a biracial woman can get slammed, can get criticized, can be called all sorts of terrible things because your views on race only count if they align with theirs.”

“I refuse to be quiet about this anymore,” Steele said. “I don’t care anymore because this is my experience. … I’m allowed to feel the way I feel. When you try to silence me, I’m done.”

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