Former ESPN star Sage Steele says the company deserved to be ‘broken’ for not showing the national anthem before the Sugar Bowl
Former ESPN broadcaster Sage Steele said the network deserved to be slammed for not showing the national anthem on its main channel ahead of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans following a terrorist attack in the city a day earlier.
Steele appeared on “Outkick the Morning” and seemed dismayed that ESPN did not show the national anthem that day, which the company attributed to “timing issues.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS REPORTS ON FOXNEWS.COM
The national anthem is played before the 2024 Sugar Bowl between the Texas Longhorns and the Washington Huskies at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. (Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports)
“It was so outrageous, I tweeted about it and put it on my Instagram, and I really try to stay away from too much that revolves around my former employer. That life is gone and I’m so glad it’s gone. I’m thankful for that years, I couldn’t help Charly, because it was an obvious decision for me to skip,” Steele told OutKick host Charly Arnolt on Tuesday.
“You’re a mile away, maybe less than in New Orleans, from where all these people were killed on the morning of what was supposed to be a game on ESPN. And you choose to ignore that when people are suffering and It’s so much bigger from football? They were crushed, and deservedly so, because they didn’t.”
Steele said ESPN’s showing of the pregame prayer last week was in response to the backlash he received for it Sugar bowl.
Sage Steele (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Bullseye Event Group/File)
“So I absolutely think this was a reaction to that. I think it actually went over the line … show the national anthem,” she said. “Should you show the prayer? And I also believe the prayer was — they said the prayer was for the victims of the fires in California, as well as the victims of the terrorist attack in New Orleans. [We’re] a little late for that.”
“Look, I pray every day. I pray for these people all the time, so I guess we shouldn’t be focused on that,” Steele continued. “But from a business perspective, what do we do? Just be consistent. And I guess it wouldn’t be good if they were consistent in this case, right? Because they [would’ve] continued to do wrong things for humanity.”
(John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images/File)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“This is it. This is bigger than work, this is bigger than sports. It’s about humanity, I guess [I] he wasn’t surprised by what happened in the Sugar Bowl. I was so sad and disappointed because that’s the reason why, one of the many reasons why ESPN as a whole is not what it used to be.”
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports broadcast on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
