'The hypocrisy was too thick to ignore': Sage Steele says women in sports media 'hypocritical' on transgender issues

Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele commented that she received zero support from women in her industry when she chose to stand up against men who identify as women playing in their sports.

Steele, appearing on "The Tucker Carlson Encounter," reacted to a clip in which former swimmer Riley Gaines asked Steele how much support she had received from women in her profession.

"None," Steele replied.

The former ESPN employee said she was excited to join the company years ago, as she thought she would have a shared sense of comradery around other female employees, especially other mothers.

"I was excited to be around women who were a little bit older and could maybe be part of the club and take care of each other, as a mother first and foremost," she recalled.

But when it came to getting support from her coworkers, they did not practice what they preached.

"Forget about the broadcast, because that is competitive, I think the big picture is women preach this all the time, and it's like, 'Oh, the men holding us down and the glass ceiling,'" she explained.

Along with stating that she felt female bosses pit female employees against one another, Steele said that when it came to support when she started speaking about different taboo issues, the idea of women supporting women was nowhere to be found despite many of her coworkers preaching about it on social media.

"They pit us against each other, they really do ... OK fine, own that if you don't like the other women, but then to be hypocritical and go on social media and talk about 'let's uplift each other,'" she went on. Steele noted that once she started to support Gaines and talk about transgender issues, "sports media women remained silent."

"To me the hypocrisy was too thick to ignore."

Steele's ousting from Disney's ESPN spawned from an appearance on former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler's podcast in September 2021.

During the episode, Steele criticized ESPN's vaccine mandate and talked about Barack Obama's ethnicity, among other topics.

"I respect everyone’s decision. I really do. But to mandate it is sick, and it’s scary to me in many ways," Steele said of the vaccine. "I’m not surprised it got to this point, especially with Disney. I mean, a global company like that."

She also commented on Obama's choice to identify as black on the national census, despite him being biracial, half black and half white, just as she is.

"I’m like, ‘Well, congratulations to the president. That’s his thing.’ I think that’s fascinating considering his black dad was nowhere to be found, but his white mom and grandma raised him, but hey, you do you. I’m going to do me," Steele said.

The commentary, along with her stance on transgender athletes, appeared to prompt warnings from ESPN in the form of a letter, which asked her not to "misgender" any athletes during her conversations.

Steele left the company after settling a lawsuit.

"Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely," she wrote on X. "I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!"

Steele maintained that there's a difference between "attacking the transgender community and supporting women," a stance that she clearly was willing to lose her job over.

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