Sage Steele Reveals Why She Apologized To Her Kids Before Bitter ESPN Battle

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele has been an open book since leaving the network.

She had been through hell and back with her former company. In 2022, she took a golf ball to the face that required surgery. She returned to work, but the following year, she found herself suing ESPN. Steele wanted to leave so she “can exercise her First Amendment rights more freely.”

When she left, ESPN tried to offer her half a million to cover “reasonable” attorney’s fees to settle the lawsuit. It was over comments about the network’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Sage Steele sued ESPN and its parent company, Walt Disney Co., over allegations that her First Amendment and Connecticut’s free-speech rights were violated.

Now, she is revealing more about what happened during that time period.

Sage Steele Apologized to Her Kids Before the ESPN Lawsuit

In a recent interview with Sean Hannity, Sage Steele recounted speaking to each of her three children before filing her 2022 lawsuit against ESPN. She directed an apology to them in advance. It was because of the online harassment and criticism they might face as a result of her stance on the COVID-19 vaccine.

“This is super cheesy, but I’m gonna tell you this,” Steele began in a clip obtained by Mediaite.

“The night before the lawsuit dropped, I talked to each one of my kids—one was in college, two were in high school—and I needed them to know and to understand what was coming the next day. Because every time I said something, then my kids would get—I mean—threats. And they track your kids down on social media, and coaches and teachers and parents say awful things to your kids because of your opinion, which is sick, and that’s a whole other topic.”

Her son made her feel stronger as he told Steele, “It was about time you stood up for yourself.”

“But my son in particular, who’s now 22, so he was 18 at the time, 17—I said, ‘I just want to apologize for what’s coming, and I’m sorry. And don’t ever feel like you have to defend me, okay? But just remember, when someone gives you crap about me, just remind them of the importance of diversity of thought and that we are all entitled to our opinion, including your mom— including your crazy mom. But that matters, and don’t defend me.’ And my son looked at me, and he said, ‘Mom, it’s about time you stood up for yourself.’”

In October 2021, Steele was pulled from the air for 10 days and lost jobs that included coverage of the New York City Marathon, the Rose Parade, and the annual ESPNW Summit. She ended up settling her lawsuit in 2023. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

It was later revealed that ESPN offered to settle the case for $500,000 plus costs.

Sage Steele added that all she ever wanted was an apology, but she was forced to do a lawsuit.

“We asked first for an apology. It’s all we asked for. No, we’re not gonna sue. I love my job. Just please apologize to her. You made her do all this—the public apology—just apologize and we’ll drop it. And they laughed,” Steele said.