What is Sage Steele doing now? Career after controversial ESPN exit explored amid engagement announcement

Journalist Sage Steele reccently got engaged. The 52-year-old former ESPN host was proposed to by her fiancé on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In a announcement posted to Instagram, Steel revealed that she had finally found her life partner. Steele wrote,

“Sometimes it takes a while to find your person. Maybe even decades. But when you know, YOU KNOW. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t change a thing about my journey. It was worth the wait. Dave, I am so excited & beyond grateful to be doing life with you!”

After her controversial exit from ESPN in 2023, Steele, who initially covered sports, expanded her career to cover politics.

In March 2024, it was announced that the first podcast launched by Bill Maher’s new podcast network, Club Random Studios network, would be Sage Steele’s.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Maher sought to power podcasts which had a strong voice and privileged freedom of expression. The comedian and commentator opened up to the news outlet about Steele, and said,

“I am looking for people who are not talking-point people. I’m looking for people who don’t, before they speak, say, ‘What’s the right answer here?’…She’s the perfect choice to be our first new host because, like me, she pissed off Disney. There’s a certain poetic symmetry to that.”

Steele’s podcast channel, The Sage Steele Show expanded the journalist’s oeuvre beyond sports, and she regularly hosts in depth discussions with comedians, politicians, entrepreneurs, entertainers, among others.

Steele also sat at the White House’s ‘new media seat’ in February 2025, according to the New York Times. The ‘new media seat’ is a position in the White House briefing room where the administration invites people from emerging new media outlets, such as podcast hosts and social media influencers.

As per Awful Announcing, Steele thanked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and said,

"Karoline, thank you for welcoming people like me with a little bit of a different perspective, different background, in this seat. It really does mean a lot, thank you.”

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Sage Steele’s controversial exit from ESPN

According to CBS News, Sage Steele had been a sports journalist at ESPN since 2007 and was an anchor of the channel’s SportsCenter program.

In 2021, however, Steele sparked controversy with the comments she made on the Uncut with Jay Cutler podcast. Steele made a variety of comments which led to her being removed from air at ESPN, according to the LA Times.

One of Steele’s controversial comments related to the vaccine mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Uncut with Jay Cutler, Steele said,

“I respect everyone’s decision i really do but to mandate it is sick and it's scary to me in many ways.”

Furthermore, Steele caused a stir by referring to Obama’s parentage. About the former President identifying as ‘black,’ Steele said,

“I think that's fascinating considering his black dad was nowhere to be found but his white mom and grandma raised him, but, hey you do you I'm gonna do me.”

Steele also referred to harassment at the workplace, and linked it to the way women choose to dress. She said,

“When you dress like that, I'm not saying you deserve the gross comments, but you know what you're doing when you're putting that outfit on too. Like women are smart, so don't play coy and put it all on the guys."

After her suspension from ESPN, and the demand that she issue a public apology, Steele moved to sue the channel for impinging on her First Amendment rights, as per the LA Times.

In 2023, CBS News reported that Steele and the Disney-owned ESPN had settled the lawsuit, following which, Steele announced that she had left the channel. In a post on X, Steele wrote,

"Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely. I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!”

In 2024, LA Times reported that Sage Steele also filed a lawsuit against her agency, Creative Artists Agency, accusing it of not putting her interests first when she was dealing with the fallout from her suspension at ESPN.