Report: ESPN SportsCenter Anchor Sage Steele Tests Positive for Covid-19, Removed From Airwaves

Longtime ESPN anchor Sage Steele reportedly has tested positive for Covid-19, and has also been removed from the network’s airwaves for at least a week.

This, according to the sports business news site Front Office Sports.

Steele, who hosts the Noon ET edition of SportsCenter these days, will also reportedly not participate in the espnW: Women + Sports Summit, which takes place Oct. 18-20.

Steele ignited controversy recently during an appearance on The Uncut with Jay Cutler podcast. She openly objected to the “sick and scary” mandate that all Walt Disney Company staffers be vaccinated by Sept. 30. She is vaccinated, however, expressing a desire to keep her job at the company.

On ESPN’s vaccine mandate, Sage Steele said mandates are “sick” and “scary,” but wasn’t “surprised it got to this point with Disney, a global company.” pic.twitter.com/SoBabFgldF

— Resist Programming 🛰 (@RzstProgramming) October 3, 2021

Her comments about Disney reportedly did not go over well with powers-that-be. Steele issued a public apology for her recent comments on Tuesday morning, saying “I know my recent comments created controversy for the company, and I apologize. We are in the midst of an extremely challenging time that impacts all of us, and it’s more critical than ever that we communicate constructively and thoughtfully.”

ESPN said in a separate statement: “At ESPN, we embrace different points of view—dialogue and discussion makes this place great. That said, we expect that those points of view be expressed respectfully, in a manner consistent with our values, and in line with our internal policies. We are having direct conversations with Sage and those conversations will remain private.”

In addition to criticizing her employer over the vaccinate mandate, Steele is also getting blowback for questioning why former President Barack Obama chose to identify as Black on a census.

“Well, congratulations to the President, that’s his thing,” said Steele. “I think that’s fascinating considering his Black dad is nowhere to be found, but his white mom and grandma raised him, but OK. You do you. I’m gonna do me.”

On ESPN’s vaccine mandate, Sage Steele said mandates are “sick” and “scary,” but wasn’t “surprised it got to this point with Disney, a global company.” pic.twitter.com/SoBabFgldF

— Resist Programming 🛰 (@RzstProgramming) October 3, 2021

Steele joined ESPN in 2007 as a SportsCenter anchor. She hosted NBA Countdown from 2013-2017 and co-anchored the flagship 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter with Kevin Negandhi from May 2018 through 2020. She has been anchoring the Noon ET edition of SportsCenter in 2021. TVNewser and TVSpy readers may also recall Steele from her pre-ESPN years at CSN Mid-Atlantic, and WFTS, the ABC affiliate in Tampa.