Sage Steele and Billy Bush joined the latest episode this week of the “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” podcast, where the veteran broadcasters opened up about their news-making splits with mainstream media organizations.
Steele, a former ESPN anchor, and Bush, who was fired by NBC over the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape of then-candidate Donald Trump, didn’t hold back on the twice-weekly podcast that offers a candid, behind-the-scenes look at the real conversations that normally take place when the cameras stop rolling.
Steele and Bush had memorable exits from previous gigs. The former left ESPN after she was taken off the air for nearly two weeks in the fall of 2021 after giving her opinion on COVID-19 vaccine mandates at ESPN, calling former President Barack Obama’s decision to identify as Black on the census “fascinating” and discussing female reporters in the locker room.
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Steele said ESPN wanted her to apologize, but she refused to back off her stance against vaccine mandates. She negotiated and said she agreed to apologize for causing headaches for ESPN parent company Disney but said it came with a strange request.
“In my statement, I wasn’t allowed to say ‘Disney.’ I could only say ‘the company,’” Steele told Hannity.
“When I had peers that later started to go on NFL shows, NBA shows and talk about Roe v. Wade being overturned and abortion on a football show or a basketball show or their thoughts on Black Lives Matter — when you’re tuning into ‘SportsCenter’ for what? Not for that,” she continued.
“So, when they allowed my peers to do that live on ESPN, make it about political things and their opinions, when I was punished for doing something on an off day, on a separate podcast, to make sure I separated my opinions from my employer, because I believe that is so important, the hypocrisy was too much, and that’s when I sued.”
Steele sued ESPN in April 2022, claiming the network breached her contract over its reaction to the remarks she made during a September 2021 podcast interview. She said she first asked for an apology, but ESPN honchos “laughed” at her request. The suit was settled in 2023, but Steele said she had “already won.”
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“I don’t mean with a settlement — I don’t mean in that way. I mean by finally not living in fear and standing up for what I knew to be right,” Steele said.
Fox News Digital reached out to ESPN for comment.
In 2016, NBC dismissed Bush from a hosting gig on “Today” shortly after the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape came to light, in which Bush could be heard laughing as Trump crudely boasted on a hot mic that he could kiss and grope women because he was famous. Bush opened up about the dark period in his life after the scandal.
“I drank like a fish, and, finally, after four months of, you know, drinking like crazy and just trying to numb, I went to a place called the Hoffman Process. And, ironically enough, it was Trump’s first day in the Oval Office [in 2017] — that was the day I checked in to a mental health retreat for nine days, like no phones, no nothing,” Bush said.
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“It was all this was — just put one foot in front of the other. … And, look, the positive in all of it is — and people do say you’ll be better than ever when you get through it. And, at the time, you want to say, ‘Shut the f— up. You are crazy. Like, you have no idea what you’re talking about,’” he added.
“But the reason why they say it, and why it’s an axiom that’s been around as long as time, is that it is true.”
“Hang Out with Sean Hannity,” along with “Ruthless,” “Will Cain Country,” “Planet Tyrus” and “The Riley Gaines Show,” are part of FOX News Media’s new media division. Subscribe now on YouTube and Spotify.
Fox News Digital’s Joe Morgan and Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
