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ESPN replaces Sage Steele with Michelle Beadle as new host of NBA coverage

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R

RBH

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Another day, another ESPN shakeup with intriguing implications.

“SportsNation” host Michelle Beadle is replacing ESPN veteran Sage Steele as full-time host of “NBA Countdown,” the network announced Tuesday, effective immediately.

Beadle joined ESPN and ABC’s NBA coverage on a part-time basis in October, showing enough promise over five months to bump Steele from the top spot for the playoffs. Beadle, 41, will be responsible for leading ESPN’s pregame and halftime shows, including during the NBA Finals on ABC, and for hosting studio broadcasts throughout the playoffs.

Beadle, who grew up in Texas and remains a Spurs fan, characteristically inserted a personal quip into her first comments on the promotion.

“The only thing better than working for Connor Schell and Kevin Wildes is being able to spend each day with all of the incredibly talented people at NBA Countdown and SportsNation,” Beadle said in a statement. “It’s the best job in sports. Did I mention that Kawhi Leonard is the M.V.P. of the league?”

Steele, who joined ESPN two years before Beadle as a “SportsCenter” anchor in 2007, has found herself at the heart of ESPN internal controversy recently. The 44-year-old drew the wrath of ESPN radio host Dan Le Batard in January when she criticized those protesting Donald Trump’s travel ban for disrupting people’s flight arrangements, including her own, in an Instagram post.

“I, as the son of exiles, look at this, and I’m like, ‘What the hell are you talking about? Your travel plans were affected? What are you talking about?’ ” Le Batard, who is of Cuban descent, fired off on his show. “It’s the height of privilege. And so once you start opening that portal, you get ESPN-on-ESPN crime.”
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http://nypost.com/2017/04/04/espn-p...witter&utm_medium=SocialFlow&sr_share=twitter

She also blasted NFL players who chose to kneel during the national anthem and cut short an interview with Arcade Fire’s Win Butler when he began to voice his political opinion after last year’s celebrity All-Star game.

In February, Steele, who is biracial, caused another stir when she shared her experiences with racism at a Christian forum in Tampa.

“The worst racism that I have received [as a biracial woman married to a white man], and I mean thousands and thousands over the years, is from black people, who in my mind thought would be the most accepting because there has been that experience,” she said during a conference on race at the Crossing Church. “But even as recent as the last couple of weeks, the words that I have had thrown at me I can’t repeat here, and it’s 99% from people with my skin color.”

Social media users, who have taken Steele to task over her conservative commentary, had a field day with her demotion.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/espn-sage-steele-host-nba-countdown-article-1.3019344

Steele won’t be completely without work, since she will continue to appear on SportsCenter on the Road, and ESPN notes that she will have an “expanded on-site presence at events such as the Masters, World Series, Super Bowl, the College Football Playoff, and College Football National Championship.”
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http://www.theroot.com/twitter-rejoices-after-learning-that-espn-analyst-sage-1794007483



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RedAssedApe

RedAssedApe

Banned
Don't care for sage as she's boring to me. Haven't really paid attention to any dumb things she might have done/ said off camera.

Michelle Beadle is entertaining so I welcome the change.
 
R

Randolph Freelander

Member
Einchy said:
5eP6SRQ.gif
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Yeah, that's the last time I saw her trending (not that she hasn't between then and now). The reactions were golden at that time, too.

NUFF ‏@nuffsaidNY 3 hours ago
Sage Steele makes Stacey Dash look like Harriet Tubman.
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RespectMyGame ‏@battletested5 4 hours ago
Sage Steele would have told Dr. Martin Luther King that she wasnt able to catch a cab because his March in Selma disrupted cab service
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aaron charlow ‏@acharlowmedia 223 minutes ago
Sage Steele would complain to the waitress about the inconsiderate people hogging seats at the counter.

C3biIk3UoAAuqxF.jpg
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Omar ‏@omartheprogram 33 minutes ago
*Sage Steele reading Anne Frank's Diary out loud in class*

*raises hand*

*Asks teacher if Anne Frank was an illegal immigrant to Holland*
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Desus Nice ‏@desusnice 4 hours ago
"Ma'am we don't have time for this, some of us are trying to get home" - sage steele to Rosa parks
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Joseph Howze ‏@outlandgraphics 38 minutes ago
Sage Steele would've told Malcolm X "Plymouth Rock missed me entirely"
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G

Gattsu25

Banned
SuperStiltzkin said:
"She happily pays mortgage to stay in her sunken place."
hahahah
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Some more:

I am not attacking Sage, if anything I am trying to get her to understand how dangerous her message is. She should look at the people agreeing with her. Look at who they are and what they represent. Take a minute to see how much damage you do by talking so badly about your own race. When I see white nationalists and KKK members coming to her defense, what does that say about her message?

When I get emails from fans of Sage Steele they are calling me nigger, telling me to go back to Africa and saying I am the racist. These are her fans, I hope she is proud of that.

Sage says 99% of Black People are disagreeing with her, that might be a sign. Not that black people are racist, but black people are fed up with her BS.

...


There are so many wonderful black women in media who are breaking down barriers and uplifting their race. It isn’t a shock than NONE of them associate with Sage Steele. There is a reason NONE of them will come to her defense. Just watch after this is posted and see if anyone speaks up for her who are black in media. There is a reason she isn’t invited to the cookout.
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L

LegendofDragoonLives

Member
Wait so ESPN replaced her due to her being salty over a delayed flight and making an instagram post about it? Please tell there's a lot more to it than that. Keep in mind I don't know the story of the ish she's pulled in the past. I'm just hoping it's something more than that.
 
G

Gattsu25

Banned
LegendofDragoonLives said:
Wait so ESPN replaced her due to her being salty over a delayed flight and making an instagram post about it? Please tell there's a lot more to it than that. Keep in mind I don't know the story of the ish she's pulled in the past. I'm just hoping it's something more than that.
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Well, I'm sure the years of her shitting on black people and athletes had nothing to do with it.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
LegendofDragoonLives said:
Wait so ESPN replaced her due to her being salty over a delayed flight and making an instagram post about it? Please tell there's a lot more to it than that. Keep in mind I don't know the story of the ish she's pulled in the past. I'm just hoping it's something more than that.
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They likely replaced her because all of her shit heel antics on twitter made her divisive and unlikable when her job was to be the opposite of that.
 
T

tookhster

Member
Good. Unlike Sage, Beadle actually sounds like she knows what's up with basketball. Sage always felt fake, like she was reading from a script.
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
Does she still act like the white people in her family are heroes for marrying black? I'm still mid-eye roll from that shit.
 
D

devilhawk

Member
The other reality that we can't dismiss is the economic one. There are going to be a number of staff shakeups for ESPN in the coming months. ESPN is locked into billions of dollars in contracts to leagues, is being crushed by hemorrhaging cable subscribers, and has to pay tons of money to talent in order to keep them in nowhere Connecticut.

The need to cut salary, contract timing, and the controversy she brought probably all played into this.
 
O

OG Shaka Zulu

Member
As a father of biracial kids, I am very anxious about any colorism my children might face so I have some sympathy for Sage if she was bullied for not being Black enough.

But her antics are very unacceptable. She was unable to see the forest for the trees and didn't bother educating herself. She just went full heel and lacked the professionalism to keep her shitty views to herself.
 
G

GitarooMan

Member
She's been nutty for awhile. I remember she had some feud with Simmons where he got bounced off the NBA show because she froze him out
 
H

HiResDes

Member
OG Shaka Zulu said:
As a father of biracial kids, I am very anxious about any colorism my children might face so I have some sympathy for Sage if she was bullied for not being Black enough.

But her antics are very unacceptable. She was unable to see the forest for the trees and didn't bother educating herself. She just went full heel and lacked the professionalism to keep her shitty views to herself.
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As a father of biracial kids I have absolutely no sympathy for any of that bullshit.
 
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