ESPN employee sues network

Sage Steele a prominent ESPN personality and "SportsCentre" host sued the network and its parent company Disney alleging that her right to freedom of speech was infringed and she had to face discrimination and hostility for comments she made on a podcast last year. 

Last year Steele appeared on former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler's podcast and made some questioning comments including calling Disney's vaccine mandate "sick" and "scary". She also drew parallels between her own racial identity which she said is biracial and that of former US president Barack Obama who is black. Steele was quoted saying "I think it'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." In her lawsuit, Steele alleges that in response to the comments ESPN removed her from assignment and didn't protect her from harassment as well as criticism from colleges on social media. The lawsuit reads "In a knee-jerk reaction, ESPN and Disney relied on the misleading characterization of her comments, bowed to groupthink, and forced Steele to publicly apologize and suspended her for a period of time in October 2021." ESPN responded by saying that Steele was never suspended and she remains a valuable member of the network with considerable work under her belt.  

Steele still has two years remaining on her contract. 

Source: The Washington Post