{"id":126377,"date":"2026-04-02T10:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/sage-steele-recalls-how-stephen-a-smith-warned-her-against-speaking-out-while-still-at-espn-126377"},"modified":"2026-04-02T10:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:32:37","slug":"sage-steele-recalls-how-stephen-a-smith-warned-her-against-speaking-out-while-still-at-espn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/sage-steele-recalls-how-stephen-a-smith-warned-her-against-speaking-out-while-still-at-espn-126377","title":{"rendered":"Sage Steele recalls how Stephen A Smith warned her against speaking out while still at ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Former ESPN colleagues Sage Steele and Stephen A. Smith<\/a> reunited on the former’s podcast earlier this week, and they relived a memory when Steele made a major move that risked her tenure at the network, which was already in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

Steele spoke about how she was not included in an ESPN special<\/a> amid the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, and her former Black colleagues refused to be on it if she was, which was publicized in a Wall Street Journal article.<\/p>\n

“That hid hard,” Steele said on her show.<\/a><\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

“I said, \u2018OK, if I\u2019m preaching to everybody, including my children, to stand up for what is right, then I\u2019m going to continue to stay silent for fear of many things that were real?’ So the article came out, and I went on the air shaking knowing what was probably happening behind the scenes.”<\/p>\n

Steele said she got a text from a concerned Smith saying, “Why? How does this help you?”<\/p>\n

“That’s exactly what I texted you,” Smith recalled.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ll never forget it,” Steele replied. “Because I knew, No. 1, I knew that you wouldn\u2019t do it if you didn\u2019t care about me as a human being, much less, forget broadcaster. And number two, for me, it is bigger than money, it is bigger than position. It\u2019s about principle at some point.”<\/p>\n

ONE OF THE NFL’S FIRST FEMALE OFFICIALS SUES THE LEAGUE FOR GENDER DISCRIMINATION AFTER BEING FIRED<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“But here was the problem, and here\u2019s what I thought you missed,” Smith answered. “You are a very, very happy woman right now \u2014 that wasn\u2019t the case then. You had a lot going on, and it\u2019s none of anybody\u2019s business unless you want to tell it. And the fact of the matter is, I knew that.”<\/p>\n

Steele then revealed she was going through a divorce.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m not saying that that had something to do with your opinion, I\u2019m saying that had everything to do with your zest to express it. I was saying \u2018why,\u2019 in other words \u2014 you got a family, you got a lot of stuff to think about. It\u2019s real easy for other people to sit by and let you do it \u2026 Nah, I\u2019m thinking about the next five years of your life, next 10 years, your family, your children. They ain\u2019t going to think about that because their sorry a–es, whoever those people may be that are rooting against you, they\u2019re not thinking about you. They\u2019re thinking about the moment you\u2019re going to provide for them to have fodder to talk about you \u2026 That’s what friends do.”<\/p>\n

Steele left the network in 2023 following a lawsuit stemming from being sidelined by ESPN in 2021 when she spoke out on a podcast about the company forcing her to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n

After settling the suit, Steele said she left the company<\/a> “so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely.”<\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong><\/i>sports coverage on X<\/strong><\/i><\/a>,\u00a0and subscribe to\u00a0<\/strong><\/i>the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/sage-steele-recalls-how-stephen-a-smith-warned-her-against-speaking-out-while-still-espn <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former ESPN colleagues Sage Steele and Stephen A. 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