ESPN has submitted a $501,000 settlement offer in hopes of resolving a free-speech lawsuit filed by SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele, who alleged she was “retaliated against” for criticizing the company’s vaccination policy. However, that offer has so far fallen on deaf ears, with attorney Bryan Freedman demanding accountability for infringing on Steele’s First Amendment rights.
“Disney and ESPN clearly admit their liability by offering to pay Sage Steele more than half a million dollars for taking away her right to free speech,” Freedman expressed to Front Office Sports. “The offer misses the point. Disney cannot purchase their employee’s constitutional rights no matter how powerful they think they are.”
Legal analyst Daniel Wallach interpreted the offer differently, seeing it as a “procedural tactic” meant to recoup lawyer fees in the event Steele loses her case at trial.
ESPN’s $501,000 settlement offer to Sage Steele was a procedural tactic under Connecticut law to enable it to recover attorneys’ fees from Steele in the event she rejected the offer and subsequently did not prevail at trial or recovered less than the rejected offer. pic.twitter.com/fEXLeGth2P
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) June 27, 2023
Filed in April of 2022, the lawsuit alleges Steele was suspended (a claim disputed by ESPN) and forced “under threat of termination” to apologize for comments made on Jay Cutler’s podcast, characterizing Disney’s vaccine mandate as “sick” and “scary” while also taking a swipe at Barack Obama for identifying as Black instead of biracial on the US Census. ESPN says its proposed settlement, which offers to cover “reasonable” lawyer fees, is “not to be construed as an admission that defendants are liable for any of the claims asserted in this action, or that plaintiff has suffered any damage as a result of any of those claims.”
“Let me put it this way, would Disney be willing to accept money from the state of Florida and Governor DeSantis in exchange for being silenced? Why the double standard?” asked Freedman, alluding to Disney’s own free-speech lawsuit against Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who disbanded a special tax distract belonging to the company following Disney’s vocal opposition to“Don’t Say Gay” legislation. “How about apologizing and treating people fairly?”
The case is slated to go to trial next March, assuming Steele’s camp refuses to settle. Steele, who has been with the network since 2007, remains on air as co-host of ESPN’s noon SportsCenter.
