ESPN told me not to speak about transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, former anchor Sage Steele claims: ‘I was asked to stop saying anything’
- Sage Steele left ESPN in August after settling a lawsuit against the network
- The presenter expressed her opposition to Lia Thomas participating in women's sports
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Former ESPN host Sage Steele claims the network asked her not to talk about transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Thomas represented the University of Pennsylvania as a male athlete before transitioning to competing as a female. She went on to win a female national championship.
Steele was among those who took to social media to voice their opposition to Thomas and other biological males competing in women's sports.
Riley Gaines, meanwhile, was among the swimmers racing against Thomas. This week, Steele was a recent guest on the former Kentucky swimmer'Gaines for girlspodcast and discussed the internal reaction to her comments.
'I have been asked not to tweet about it anymore. I was asked to stop doing anything and say anything about it on social media because I was offending others within the company,” Steele alleged.
Sage Steele claims ESPN asked her not to talk about transgender swimmer Lia Thomas
Thomas represented the University of Pennsylvania as a male athlete before transitioning to competing as a female
“I made sure I sent out another tweet that night after I got that email because I said, 'No.'
The prominent “SportsCenter” host left ESPN in August after settling a lawsuit against the network and its parent company Disney.
“Let's stop living this lie,” she continued. “Are you going to silence me and ('Sunday NFL Countdown' host) Sam (Ponder)? She was told the same thing for this problem.
“But they wanted to get everyone on our sports programs talking about all these other things that don't even have to do with sports.”
'I already had the lawsuit pending. I didn't know how it would end. But I literally said, “This is the hill I will die on 100 percent because they are facts. This isn't even my opinion on a vaccine mandate or anything, these are facts. This is science, this is biology. This is all the stuff. Come to me. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me to stop supporting women. Go ahead, tell me.”
Steele had previously courted controversy with comments about vaccines, female sports journalists and former President Barack Obama's racial identity.
ESPN declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.