Ex-ESPN anchor is headed back to court

ESPN settled a case with the disgruntled former host last year.

Jun 13, 2024 - 06:30

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A former ESPN host has filed another lawsuit, this time against her agency.

Sage Steele, who was with ESPN from 2007 to 2023, is suing the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for the alleged lack of help the talent agency provided her during the lawsuit she filed against ESPN in 2022, according to a report by Variety.

Per Variety's report, Steele's suit indicated that her agent, Matthew Kramer, "failed to do the bare minimum" after she was suspended by ESPN in 2021 due to comments she made on the "Uncut with Jay Cutler" podcast.

In that September 2021 episode, Steele spoke openly about her feelings about Disney DIS, ESPN's parent company's COVID mandate.

“I didn’t want to do it, but I work for a company that mandates it,” Steele said. “I respect everyone’s decision, I really do, but to mandate it is sick. And it’s scary to me in many ways. But I have a job that I love … I’m not surprised it got to this point, especially with Disney, a global company.”

ESPN suspended Steele following her comments on the podcast, and she issued an apology for her comments.

ESPN's Sage Steele apologizes for recent comments. ESPN said its' having 'direct conversations' with Steele, who's been ripped publicly by Jemele Hill, Keith Olbermann and others. pic.twitter.com/9gQuQHvjoI— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) October 5, 2021

According to the report, Kramer advised Steele to issue the apology which she actually did not want to do. Steele believes Kramer and CAA — which handles other top sports media talent such as Doris Burke — "sacrificed her so it could continue to reap the benefits from its profitable relationship with the companies."

In a statement to Variety, CAA, which is actually still Steele's agency, issued a statement that read, in part: "CAA worked diligently for Ms. Steele beginning in 2013, during which time her career as a sports broadcaster flourished. CAA’s agents unequivocally acted only in her best interest to help her navigate the controversy she created; yet, now, she denies the agency’s valuable support, skill, and judgment despite having repeatedly expressed her gratitude in numerous written communications throughout that time period.”

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Steele filed a freedom of speech lawsuit against ESPN in 2022, then left The Worldwide Leader in Sports after the two sides settled in the back half of last year.

She told Bill Maher in an interview that there was a lack of consistency in the way that the network treated its talent.

"Either you can speak your mind about things or you cannot — but you can't pick and choose," Steele said.