Former “SportsCenter” anchor Sage Steele and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith reminisced on their days working together and how their deep-rooted friendship withstood some “sorry asses rooting against” her while at the Worldwide Leader.
During the latest installment of “The Sage Steele Show,” Steele recalled being excluded from the “Time for Change: We Won’t Be Defeated” special on ESPN in June 2020, which touched on race and was described as “exploring Black athletes’ experiences with injustice.”
The special, which aired in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death while in custody of the Minneapolis police, was co-hosted by “SportsCenter” anchors Elle Duncan, Michael Eaves and Jay Harris, along with Maria Taylor, a college sports reporter at the time.
Steele, who is biracial, did not appear in the special after Duncan and Eaves, both of whom are black, complained to ESPN brass that she wouldn’t be accepted by what they considered the black community, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
On her podcast, Steele and Smith discussed a text the “First Take” host sent her after she gave The Wall Street Journal a statement regarding the matter, which was published in their 2020 article, saying “trying to define who is and isn’t black enough” creates more of a divide in this country.
“I gave a statement and it was in the Wall Street Journal… I said [to myself], ‘OK, if I’m preaching to everybody, including my children, to stand up for what is right then I’m going to continue to stay silent for fear of many things that were real,” Steele said on her podcast.
“So the article came out and I went on the air [on ESPN] shaking knowing what was probably happening behind the scenes and I get a text from this one [Smith, that said] ‘Why? How does this help you?'”
Smith confirmed that is “exactly” what his text to Steele said.
“Remember, I wasn’t aware of any of that stuff, I knew nothing,” Smith said of the ESPN special. “But I saw the [Wall Street Journal] article and then I saw your reaction and what did I do?”
Smith explained that he texted Steele because he was thinking of the bigger picture, such as the fallout her statement could have on her children and her family because she was going through a divorce in private at the time.
“But here was the problem and here’s what I thought you missed. You are a very, very happy woman now — that wasn’t the case then. You had a lot going on and it’s none of anybody’s business unless you want to tell it. And the fact of the matter is, I knew that,” Smith said.
“I’m not saying that that had something to do with your opinion, I’m saying that had everything to do with your zest to express it. I was saying ‘why,’ in other words — you got a family, you got a lot of stuff to think about.
“It’s real easy for other people to sit by and let you do it and vent… Nah, I’m thinking about the next 5-10 years of your life, your family, your children…. They ain’t going to think about that because their sorry asses, whoever those people may be that are rooting against you, they’re not thinking about you. They’re thinking about the moment you’re going to provide for them to have fodder to talk about you. So I said why ? How does this help you? I know that you knew I meant your family… that’s what friends do.”
Steele said she wanted to release a statement at the time because the matter was bigger than her job.
“I’ll never forget [your text] because, number one, I knew that you wouldn’t do it if you didn’t care about me as a human being, much less, forget broadcaster,” Steele said. “And number two … for me it is bigger than money… It’s about principle at some point.”
At the time, an ESPN spokesman denied that Steele wasn’t invited to participate in the special because of a campaign by colleagues to undermine her or that her views played any role in the network’s decision.
In a joint statement about the race special, Duncan and Eaves said: “We wish we had more than an hour to include more of the many strong voices we have at ESPN; however, we are hopeful that this doesn’t distract from the important message conveyed that night.”
Steele left ESPN in August 2023 after both sides settled a lawsuit she filed following her being removed from the air in October 2021 for comments she made about the company’s COVID-19 vaccine policy.
“I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” Steele, who worked at ESPN since 2007, said at the time.
Eaves, who joined ESPN in 2015 as a studio anchor, is still with the network, anchoring “SportsCenter” and other events.
Duncan, who anchored the 6 p.m. hour of “SportsCenter” and hosted much of the network’s WNBA coverage, left ESPN in November for Netflix to become the new face of the streaming service’s sports programming.
Taylor left ESPN after then-colleague Rachel Nichols made disparaging “diversity” comments about her in leaked audio, which was made public in July 2021.
Taylor joined NBC Sports less than a week after her contract with ESPN expired that month.
