{"id":2586585,"date":"2026-04-02T14:18:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sage-steele-says-espn-celebrating-lia-thomas-was-turning-point\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:18:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:18:02","slug":"sage-steele-says-espn-celebrating-lia-thomas-was-turning-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sage-steele-says-espn-celebrating-lia-thomas-was-turning-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Sage Steele says ESPN celebrating Lia Thomas was &#8216;turning point&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsage-steele-says-espn-celebrating-lia-thomas-was-turning-point%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2586585&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Sage Steele says ESPN celebrating Lia Thomas was a &lsquo;turning point&rsquo; for her at company<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2550231\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Ex-<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/espn\/\">ESPN<\/a> anchor Sage Steele said she was told &ldquo;not to&rdquo; discuss certain political topics on social media when working at the network.<\/p>\n<p>Steele said that, when the story of athlete <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/riley-gaines\/\">Riley Gaines<\/a> speaking out against transgender swimmer <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/lia-thomas\/\">Lia Thomas<\/a> broke in 2022, she didn&rsquo;t understand &ldquo;from a journalistic perspective&rdquo; why <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/espn\/\">ESPN<\/a> wasn&rsquo;t covering the story, &ldquo;especially for a network that champions women so much.&rdquo; She said ESPN selected Thomas, who was born male and now identifies as a woman, to be <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/1999584\/dear-espn-lia-thomas-is-not-a-woman\/\">&ldquo;honored&rdquo; for women&rsquo;s history month<\/a> in March 2023.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Anybody can say what they want to say about themselves and the pronouns and all that crap, but we know what he is,&rdquo; Steele said on Fox News&rsquo; <em>Hanging Out with Sean Hannity<\/em> podcast. &ldquo;And I think that there are millions of &mdash; we know that there are millions of other women that they could&rsquo;ve chosen to celebrate, and they chose to celebrate a man. So that was a turning point for me, where I would tweet about it [online] and then get talked to about my tweets.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Igwt4S66gNg?si=mwRtfrguBY3K3W72&amp;start=2040\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>    <\/p>\n<p>Host <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/sean-hannity\/\">Sean Hannity<\/a> asked, &ldquo;What would they say?&rdquo; when talking to Steele about her posts, and she responded, &ldquo;Not to.&rdquo; She added that ESPN would tell her they noticed she had been liking posts from people like commentator <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/megyn-kelly\/\">Megyn Kelly<\/a>, and she realized, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re watching what I like.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Steele also discussed how her peers at ESPN would discuss political topics, such as <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2875629\/supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-paving-way-for-state-abortion-bans\/\"><em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> being overturned<\/a> or the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/black-lives-matter\/\">Black Lives Matter<\/a> movement, on shows about football or basketball. She said the &ldquo;hypocrisy&rdquo; of her peers discussing these topics while she was &ldquo;punished&rdquo; for discussing political topics &ldquo;on an off-day, on a separate podcast&rdquo; led her to sue the network.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4509523\/doj-sues-minnesota-over-transgender-athlete-policies-in-girls-sports\/\"><strong>DOJ SUES MINNESOTA OVER TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICIES IN GIRLS&rsquo; SPORTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Steele left ESPN in August 2023 to exercise her &ldquo;First Amendment rights more freely.&rdquo; She started <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@TheSageSteeleShow\">her own podcast<\/a>, <em>The Sage Steele Show<\/em>, and also <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fRpBDQ8BnTw\">appeared at a campaign event<\/a> for then-presidential candidate <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The former ESPN anchor interviewed then-President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\">Joe Biden<\/a> in March 2021. Following her exit, she revealed in April 2024 that <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2951296\/ex-espn-anchor-every-single-question-biden-interview-scripted\/\">she was &ldquo;on script&rdquo; for this interview<\/a>, and was &nbsp;&ldquo;told not to deviate.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> contacted ESPN for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sage Steele says ESPN celebrating Lia Thomas was a \u2018turning point\u2019 for her at company Ex-ESPN anchor Sage Steele said she was told \u201cnot to\u201d discuss certain political topics on social media when working at the network. Steele said that, when the story of athlete Riley Gaines speaking out against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas broke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2632,"featured_media":2586586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-collage-4q1l63chx-1775146656077.jpg?1775132439&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2586585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-collage-4q1l63chx-1775146656077.jpg?1775132439&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2586585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2586585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2586586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2586585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2586585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2586585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}