Sage Steele is off the sidelines and speaking her mind
It has been a long, tumultuous journey for Sage Steele, the veteran sportscaster best known for her decade-plus career at ESPN. But now, at 51 years old, she's reinventing herself.
"It's been so strange to be able to talk freely," Steele told Fox News Digital in an interview. "For a couple of months, every time I said something, I would pause and I'd kind of look behind me and I thought I was gonna have like, you know, a Disney executive come up and grab me from behind and 'Oh, you're fired.' It's like, 'Oh, wait, no, I've – I'm already gone. It's fine.'"
Steele joined ESPN in 2007 and was host of its flagship program "SportsCenter." In April 2022, Steele filed a lawsuit against ESPN alleging the network violated her free speech rights after she was punished in 2021 for speaking out against parent company Disney's COVID vaccine mandate and knocked former President Obama for identifying as Black instead of biracial like she is. They settled the lawsuit and she left the network last August.
"My job was to not give my opinions on TV, and I never did really. It wasn't about that," Steele said. "I gave my opinions off ESPN platforms on my own time, which was always quite different which is what my peers were allowed to do. So I thought that was okay and obviously I learned it was not because of my specific beliefs. So it's been so liberating and exciting and freeing."
Steele told Fox News Digital, "I don't think I realized how long and how much I had just buried things in my soul, things that I was so passionate about, you know? And so it's been a little scary and exciting because I feel like my big mouth can make a difference in particular with this transgender women's sports issue, you know? And once you no longer have fear, there's a whole big new world out there. And by the way, the fear will always be there in many ways, for myself and for others. But you do have to take a chance on yourself sometimes."
The fog of where Steele would land next began to clear in September when she sat down with Bill Maher as a guest on his "Club Random" podcast.
After more than an hour of chatting, Maher, who Steele had never met before, appeared to offer her a job in the middle of the recording.
"What about a Club Random podcast?" Maher asked.
"Wait," Steele reacted. "Are you offering me a-"
"Absolutely," Maher said.
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Steele remains stunned by the liberal comedian who ended up becoming her business partner.
"I didn't know what to expect because I thought, 'Oh boy, he's going to think I'm a right-wing nut job, and I think he's a left-wing nut job, so it's equal and it's fair," Steele chuckled. "And guess what? We had the best conversation. It wasn't an interview. It's a conversation. And when he not once but twice offered me a job. He's like, ‘I think you need to do a show for us.’ And I was like ‘Are we recording this?' Because I'm going to hold him to this. And then he said it again."
She continued, "I thought he was gonna forget. And he didn't forget. What that says to me – it's such a beautiful thing. And I'm not trying to be cheesy here, but for two people who believe completely differently on 99% of issues to come together and to be able to have a conversation leading with kindness and respect, that's the definition of diversity, isn't it? My big passion always has been during my time at ESPN, and certainly now that I can speak freely, is diversity of thought."
Steele listed off how different she and Maher are from their personal politics to her being a devout Catholic versus him being an outspoken atheist as well as their opposing views on marriage and children, but also stressed how they were able to agree on numerous topics like immigration, the transgender debate and opposition to the COVID vaccine mandates.
"And Bill Maher, by saying we want you to be part of our new team – I'm his first hire – for his new podcast network. For him to see that in me, that speaks volumes about Bill. And despite what people might think how open-minded he truly is, even with people that he thinks might be nutjobs, he will fight about Donald Trump and my thoughts on Donald Trump until the day he and/or I die… but guess what? He'll have the conversation and he might think I'm a total idiot. That's okay! The feeling might be mutual. It's fine. We can have those conversations."
"People like to put you in a box, and they like to put Bill Maher in a box. And that's what we're trying to get away from."
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March 27 marks the debut of Steele's new podcast "The Sage Steele Show," the first of several projects in the works at Maher's newly-launched Club Random Studios. New episodes will drop every Wednesday and can be found on any podcast platform.
Steele tells Fox News Digital that her guests are required to pick out a pair of "fuzzy socks" from a bucket to wear on the set, insisting that when her guests are "cozy" and "comfortable," they'll "open up more."
And unlike "SportsCenter," Steele's podcast will go well beyond sports as proven by her first slate of guests. Among them are TV personalities Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne, comedian Adam Carolla, UFC president Dana White, actress Drea DeMatteo, fitness guru Jillian Michaels, entertainer Reggie Watts, and former L.A. Dodgers player-turned-Republican California Senate candidate Steve Garvey.
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"I'm all about the C-word: conversations," Steele said. "What I really want to know about all of them… what happens when it hits the fan for them, when they face real adversity, how do they get through it? What do they draw upon? Because publicly on the big screen or the small screen or on social media, it's smiles and everything's perfect… but everybody has something. Everybody's got a story."
"As I've been more and more comfortable sharing my story and some of my trials and tribulations… not only is it therapeutic for me, it's therapeutic for others who then realize that they're not alone. So if I can help bring out the stories of some of these famous names and people who we've all grown to love or not love, and add more of their human story into it, everybody wins. And I think that when we do that and we look at them as people first, we're going to have a lot more empathy in this country."
Steele acknowledged that her messy split from ESPN made her a "poster child" of why people choose to stay silent about their views. But she's hoping her next chapter in her life will make her the "poster child" for something else.
"I've learned to get through more and more of my fears of being myself and speaking out and having the hate come and that's okay. And I think that's why I feel so blessed to be in this position, to be given the opportunity from Bill," Steele said.
"I'm still scared about a lot of things or have fear, but I also have a lot of peace. Part of that is my faith but it's also realizing that man, every time you get crushed or canceled or hit, the sun comes up the next day and I've been the poster child for why people stay silent. And now, hopefully, a different kind of a poster child for saying you can stand up and be true to yourself and still be successful and have people believe in you," she said.
Steele added, "And I hope, I hope that if nothing else comes from my little story because I'm nothing compared to so many other people who are doing so much more, I hope that I can show people that it's okay to bet on yourself, especially when you know in your gut that you're doing it for the right reasons."