Longtime ESPN star Sage Steele was involved in a lengthy legal battle with the network, but it appears that the legal battle is over and the two sides are parting ways.
On Tuesday morning, the ESPN personality announced that she has settled her lawsuit with ESPN and has decided to leave ESPN so that she can “exercise my first amendment rights more freely.”
“Life update. Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” Steele said in a tweet on Tuesday. “I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!”
Steele filed a lawsuit against ESPN back in April of 2022 when she alleged that the network violated her first amendment rights when they removed her from the air for one week in 2021 after she criticized ESPN’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
But she was quickly blasted on social media for her apparent failure to understand that the First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects her from the government infringing upon her speech, not from private companies or corporations like ESPN.
Here we go again…
For the millionth time, the 1st Amendment protects you from the government interfering with your rights to free speech, a free press, choosing a religion, and to peaceably assemble.
ESPN/Disney is not the government. https://t.co/YFGM5FKO7C
— Sam Franco (@samjfranco) August 15, 2023
The next “free thinker” who correctly understands the first amendment will be the first. https://t.co/8jfk64SwB0
— Not A Basketball Fan (@drewhamm5) August 15, 2023
ESPN/Disney are also business owners. https://t.co/iK7dhEj6j8 pic.twitter.com/zNhaHsPAqs
— Strictly 4 My X’ers (@Lizzs_Lockeroom) August 15, 2023
Sage Steele out here confusing first amendment rights (public right) with the constitution right to contract (a private tight) is right on brand for those mentally unmelanated https://t.co/s9uV6pO8sG
— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) August 15, 2023
People who complain about their first amendment rights are usually the worst people https://t.co/tnJVJvFSMs
— Charles J. Moore (@charles270) August 15, 2023
“First Amendment”
You keep using that term, I do not think it means what you think it means.
— Elika Sadeghi (@elikasadeghi) August 15, 2023
I wish journalists like @sagesteele would actually read the Constitution so they know exactly what the first amendment says. https://t.co/h5J8kvZBsw
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) August 15, 2023
