Former ESPN host Sage Steele has admitted that her interview with Democrat President Joe Biden in 2021 was completely “scripted” by network executives.
Steele made the admission during a new interview with Fox News, revealing she was told exactly what to say “to the word.”
“I was on script and was told not to deviate,” she said.
Steele exposed the “structured” nature of the pre-taped interview.
She recalled that her ESPN bosses handed her a “script” and warned her not to say or do anything that wasn’t written down.
“That was an interesting experience in its own right because it was so structured,” Steele said.
“And I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script and go.’”
During the March 2021 interview, many of the questions Steele asked Biden pertained to sports leagues attempting to restore normalcy during the pandemic.
They also discussed Covid vaccine hesitancy among athletes and fans.
Her interview made headlines at the time when Biden supported the MLB’s All-Star game boycott of Atlanta following the passage of Georgia’s election reform law.
However, every single word Steele said to the president ultimately came from ESPN’s C-suite.
“To the word,” Steele told Fox News.
“Every single question was scripted, gone over dozens of times by many editors and executives.
“Absolutely. I was on script and was told not to deviate.
“It was very much ‘This is what you will ask. This is how you will say it. No follow-ups, no follow-ups. Next.’ …
“This went up to the fourth floor, as we said, where all the bosses, the top executives, the decision makers are, the president of our company, the CEO, where they all worked.”
Steele said she didn’t know for certain whether ESPN sent the questions to the White House in advance of the interview but seemed confident that is “what happened.”
Last week, the former ESPN host launched her new podcast “The Sage Steele Show.”
Steele said her brief interaction with the oldest-sitting president was “heartbreaking,” referring to his mental acuity.
“I think it’s really heartbreaking that the people who love Joe Biden and say they truly care about him have allowed it to get to this point,” Steele said.
“So I’m not even looking at this from a political angle or my beliefs in anything.
“This is the human side of it. And when someone is struggling, we allow them to continue to be in the spotlight and put them out there in the first place when they knew there were issues?
“Of course, they had to know,” she said.
“So it’s a humanity thing with me where I don’t care where anyone stands and what they vote for or who they believe in.
“Do you really care about that person? As a father, as a husband, as an everything.”
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Last year, Steele previously detailed how Biden “trailed off” in their pre-interview chat before taping.
“It was satellite, it wasn’t in person,” Steele told Bill Maher on his “Club Random” podcast last fall.
“We’re having a technical issue.
“And so I had to, like, BS. I had to chitchat waiting for us to start rolling.
“Well, what he started to do, of course, he has someone next to him, and they keep a black, like, curtain over the lens of the camera, so you can’t see him until the last second, but you can hear, and we’re chitchatting…
“So I can hear him, and he goes, ‘What is this for?’… And he’s, like, ‘Who am I talking to? Wait—what’s her name?'”
“This is like a ‘Naked Gun’ movie,” Maher quipped.
“I was going, ‘Oh, my God!'” Steele exclaimed.
“And then [Biden’s handler] said, ‘SportsCenter. ESPN.’
“And [Biden] goes, ‘Oh, ok.’
“And so I said, you know, what do you say? ‘Hi, Mr. President. Nice to meet you.’
“And so I’m trying just to fill time.
“And he said, ‘You know, I used to play football’…
“And so he started to tell football stories of his greatness.
“And again, I can’t see him. You can see the curtain…
“He goes, ‘And I have the best hands.’ What do you say to that?”
She later continued, “And then I said, ‘Oh, so you were a receiver.’
“And he started to explain it.
“And here’s the saddest thing — his voice just trailed off.
“He said, ‘I was good,’ and then he went silent, and he goes, ‘Uhh… never mind.’”
Steele left ESPN last August after settling a lawsuit she had filed against the network.
She accused the network of violating her free speech rights.
She has since joined Maher’s Club Random Studios, which produces her podcast.
