ESPN anchor Sage Steele claims her Black colleagues trash-talked her and challenged her Blackness

The Wall Street Journal

Steele told ESPN management she believes she was excluded from a special the network aired on race last month because she wasn’t considered by certain Black colleagues to be an authentic voice for the Black community, according to The Wall Street Journal. Steele also alleges that fellow Black ESPN anchors Elle Duncan and Michael Eaves trash-talked her around ESPN over whether she is accepted by real Black community. "Trying to define who is and isn’t Black enough goes against everything we are fighting for in this country, and only creates more of a divide," Steele tells The Journal. In 2018, Steele criticized then-ESPN colleague Jemele Hill for tweeting that President Trump is a white supremacist. "I will say this, it's not a lack of supporting Jemele, it's simply, I just try to abide by the rules," Steele told Refinery29. Steele has also been criticized in the Black media for her comments on Colin Kaepernick and for saying the "worst racism" she's experienced is from Black people.