ESPN Anchor Sage Steele Takes Heat For Instagram Message About Airport Protests
Sage Steele is drawing criticism from the social justice cohort on social media as well as those in her own profession for an Instagram message about the airport protests.
Demonstrators showed up at the nation’s airport this weekend to protest President Trump’s travel ban executive order. The regulation currently applies to only seven Middle Eastern nations which were previously designated by the Obama administration as countries of concern and apparently resulted in only 109 travelers being temporarily detained by authorities.
During the presidential campaign, Trump vowed that he would make changes in the refugee open-door policy, which includes what is described as extreme vetting.
Apparently, Sage Steele missed her flight from LAX to Houston, the location of Sunday’s NFL Super Bowl between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots, which prompted the SportsCenter On The Road and NBA Countdown host to take to Instagram, with a picture of the airport gridlock and a long caption.
Although Sage Steele, 44, expressed support for the right to protest (which is covered by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the right to the peacefully assemble), she also called attention to the difficulties that it caused to other travelers, such as herself.
“So THIS is why thousands of us dragged luggage nearly 2 miles to get to LAX, but still missed our flights. Fortunately, a 7 hour wait for the next flight to Houston won’t affect me that much, but my heart sank for the elderly and parents with small children who did their best to walk all that way but had no chance of making their flights. I love witnessing people exercise their right to protest! But it saddened me to see the joy on their faces knowing that they were successful in disrupting so many people’s travel plans….”
A photo posted by Sage Steele (@sagesteele) on
Predictably perhaps, Sage Steele was condemned in very personal ways on Twitter and Instagram. “Steele’s comments drew a good amount of negative reaction on social media, some of them on the Instagram post itself. Others took to Twitter,” the Washington Post noted.
With follow-up tweets, Steele responded to some of the criticism from various media members, the Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News detailed.
She also replied to a Twitter user with this tweet below.
All good! But just bc someone has a different opinion, doesn't mean they're "the worst". Unless, of course, only YOUR opinion is allowed? https://t.co/iiZXuD4Ne2
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) January 30, 2017
Via a tweet last November, Sage Steele — whose father is a retired U.S. Army colonel and the first black player on Army’s varsity football team — took issue with Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for kneeling during the National Anthem.
Hey @MikeEvans13_ look up definition of the word DEMOCRACY & remember this pic while kneeling/exercising your right to protest #perspective pic.twitter.com/kGruy3wEDe
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) November 14, 2016
Also in November, Sage Steele, who describes herself as biracial and whose husband and father of her three kids is white, authored a lengthy Facebook post that suggested that diversity also means embracing different points of view.
“…Instead of praising or uplifting each other, way too many people of color choose to tear down, mock and spew hatred at other blacks who feel differently, think differently, or make decisions that are different from theirs. That, my friends, is hypocrisy at its best. Or should I say, its hypocrisy at its worst,” Sage Steele wrote, in part.
Actor Rob Lowe similarly faced backlash on social media for a post about “grandmas and children” having to drag heavy luggage for blocks trying to get home from the LAX airport as a result of the protests.
[Featured Image by Scott Roth/Invision/AP Images]
