ESPN news anchor Sage Steele has found herself at the center of a media storm after she publicly condemned ESPN’s vaccine mandate.
Steele shared that she did get vaccinated in order to hold onto her job — but that she didn’t want to.
“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 former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler’s podcast. “I’m not surprised it got to this point, especially with Disney, I mean a global company like that.”
Her remarks about former President Barack Obama also raised eyebrows.
Obama, whose father is from Kenya, chose to identify as “African-American” when completing his 2010 Census questionnaire. Steele says that she finds it interesting that he decided to identify himself as such, given that he was raised by his white mother and maternal grandmother — not his Black father.
“If they make you choose a race, what are you gonna put? Well, both,” said Steele, who’s biracial. “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,” she said.
She added, “Listen, I’m pretty sure my white mom was there when I was born. And my white family loves me as much as my Black family.”
Twitter was quick to school Steele, including Jemele Hill, a former coworker at the Worldwide Leader.
“So on top of thinking former President Obama shouldn’t identify as Black because he didn’t have a relationship with his black father, Sage Steele also thinks female journalists who dress a certain way ‘know what you’re doing when you’re putting that outfit on,'” Hill tweeted, adding, “Clown behavior.”
