Former ESPN host Sage Steele slams Al Sharpton for saying Claudine Gay's firing from Harvard was 'an attack on all black women' – as billionaire Bill Ackman offers to debate activist

Former ESPN host Sage Steele has criticized Pastor Al Sharpton, saying “I wish he would go away” after claiming Claudine Gay's firing from Harvard was “an attack on all black women.”

Steele joined Fox News host Jesse Watters on Wednesday night as they discussed the issue of race after Gay announced her departure Tuesday in a bitter letter to colleagues and students.

Following her firing, Sharpton announced on social media that he and the National Action Network planned to protest outside hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's office in New York on Thursday.

In response to Sharpton's post about the picket on everything I have said or done in connection with Harvard and Claudine Gay.”

Steele added that every time the activist speaks, he “acts like he knows what every person of color in this country thinks, believes, how to live, how to act, how to vote.”

Gay, 53, resigned as president of the Ivy League university 28 days after her shocking response to congressional testimony about anti-Semitism on campus.

She refused to categorize calls for genocide against Jews as harassment and refused to concede that Jewish students had a right not to feel unsafe in Ivy League schools.

In addition to her December 5 testimony, Gay has also been accused of mounting claims of plagiarism.

But she claimed she has been the victim of racist threats and has been called the n-word numerous times since she made headlines in October.

“It has become clear that it is in Harvard's best interests for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution and not on any individual,” she said in her letter of resignation.

Gay served only six months as president of the Ivy League University, and in her written farewell she failed to apologize for or acknowledge the disasters that led to her departure.

Sharpton has supported Gay's response, agreeing that her firing is “more than a person or a single incident.”

“This is an attack on every Black woman in this country who has put a crack in the glass ceiling.”

The activist added that her departure was “an attack on the health force and the future of diversity, equality and inclusivity.”

Gay, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, became the first Black person to lead the university when she took over as president on July 1.

Steele, a Black woman, then disagreed with Sharpton, saying the former president's character is “so much more troubling.”

“I don't have that much sympathy, and no, I don't feel like I have to stand up for her because of the color of her skin,” Steele said in the interview with Watters.

The TV host said many points in Gay's case have disappointed her, starting with congressional testimony in which Elise Stefanik asked Gay about anti-Semitic comments and incidents that occurred on Harvard's campus.

Steele said Gay “refused” to answer Stefanik when the U.S. representative asked whether she denounced anti-Semitic comments about the genocide of Jews.

“They and Harvard as a whole have failed America,” she said.

But Steele welcomed Harvard's condemnation of all the racist attacks Gay faced, “as it should be.”

She added: “Any racist attack must be denounced.”

After Gay's announcement, tThe Harvard Corporation, which serves as the school's governing body, praised her “dedicated” service and said she had accepted her resignation “with sadness,” while Jewish groups and alumni such as billionaire Bill Ackman embraced the announcement.

Gay said it was “frightening” to find herself the target of threats, and “disturbing” to have her character called into question.

She will be replaced by Alan M. Garber, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, who sat behind her during the infamous December 5 hearing and nodded as she delivered her remarks.

Gay confirmed she would retain a role at the school.

She will remain a member of the university staff and return to a teaching role in the political science department, and maintain a comparable salary.

She will retain a salary of about $900,000 a year from the university, despite being forced to resign amid a plagiarism scandal.