ESPN's Sage Steele Reacts To Being Shamed After CDC Changes Vaccine Guidelines

ESPN's Sage Steele was crucified by many for saying that she didn't think it was right that Disney, the network's parent company, mandated all employees to receive the vaccine. Now that the CDC has changed its COVID guidance, Steele is continuing to use her right to free speech regarding the situation.

Last week the CDC finally entered reality and ended all different treatments for vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Steele, who called Disney's vaccine mandate "sick" and "scary" last fall, reacted to the CDC changing its stance.





Sage Steele's Comments About The Vaccine


Steele made headlines for sharing her opinion on the vaccine and specifically on employers forcing their employees to get the jab during an appearance on Jay Cutler's podcast.

“I respect everyone’s decision, I really do, but to mandate it is, sick, and it’s scary to me in many ways,” Steele told Cutler.

“But I have a job, a job that I love, and frankly, a job that I need, but again, I love it. I’m not surprised it got to this point, especially with Disney, a global company…but it was actually emotional.”

Steele ultimately received the vaccine to keep her job, but after extreme backlash and ESPN allegedly benching her for a period of time, Steele filed a lawsuit against the company in April.

The lawsuit alleged that ESPN violated her freedom of speech and that the company forced her to apologize for her 'controversial' comments.









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In June, a motion to dismiss the lawsuit was filed on behalf of ESPN.

“Removing Steele from broadcasts, allowing her co-workers to forgo appearing with her, and allegedly conditioning her return to those broadcasts on her issuing an apology are casting decisions that are considered conduct furthering ESPN’s protected expression," the motion read in part.

The motion to dismiss is ESPN admitting hat it had done exactly what Steele alleged it did. The network's claim, and defense, was that it had every right to do so to “protect” its “expression.”





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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.