The Charlie Kirk Show
Why Sticking to Your Morals Matters — Live at Dream City Church with Sage Steele
Sun, 18 May 2025
Charlie sits down with prominent sports reporter Sage Steele to discuss the controversial ending of her career at ESPN, how she learned to stand up for her beliefs, what she has learned since launching her own podcast, the importance of her faith, and more.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What was the focus of the conversation with Sage Steele?
Hey everybody, happy Sunday. It's my conversation with Sage Steele, live from Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona. We also take questions from the audience. It's a phenomenal back and forth. I think you'll really enjoy it. So also become a member today, members.charliekirk.com, and get involved with the most important organization in America at tpusa.com. That is tpusa.com.
Thanks to Allen Jackson Ministries for your continued support. Buckle up everybody, here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus. I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks. I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here. Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals.
Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com. That is noblegoldinvestments.com. It's where I buy all of my gold. Go to noblegoldinvestments.com. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. What a great crowd this is tonight. We're gonna have some fun. And I'm gonna just kind of really...
shorten my remarks at the beginning because I feel we never get to enough questions at the end. But let me tell you, as you know, I visit college campuses, so you don't have to. That's right, you know it. And we are seeing something so special on these college campuses, everybody.
I'll tell you, we are traveling the country and there are thousands and thousands of young people attending our Prove Me Wrong events. You might have seen a video or two of them on social media where someone comes up with some sort of strong opinion and We try to prove them wrong from scripture, from the natural law, from reason, and from conservative values.
This last week, the tour has been going very well. We went to University of California, San Diego, went to Long Beach State. And yesterday, we were at San Francisco State University. And well over 1,700 students came out in the middle of the day in Nancy Pelosi's district. And we proclaim Jesus's name in San Francisco.
And I'll tell you what, I'm not like a huge believer in exorcisms, but we as evangelicals have got to get back into knowing what an exorcism is and how to call a demon out. That would have been very helpful in downtown San Francisco. And what was amazing while being there and being on this campus tour is there is a legitimate move of God with younger Americans. And the data shows it.
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Chapter 2: How did Sage Steele start her career in sports journalism?
And certainly no one that, there are a few that look like me. Robin Roberts was really the only one. And she was certainly my idol. Absolutely the trailblazer. So in 2007 went, and I got to tell you, 16 and a half years at ESPN. When I got there, my kids were 11 months old, two and four. I don't remember much from those days. I don't regret a thing. I got to do things that I never dreamt of.
SportsCenter was that childhood dream, but it ended up being hosting coverage pregame halftime at the NBA finals with 30 million viewers and Super Bowls and seven straight Masters tournaments and World Series and like... I get emotional still thinking about what I got to do. And despite how it ended, no regrets. I loved it.
So then there was a time for choosing.
Yeah.
COVID happened. Tell us about that.
Yeah. What a fun time. I had actually lived here from 2014 through 17. And so when I come back to Scottsdale, I cry because this is, oh gosh, right Quinn? We were landing today and I started crying. I'm like, this was home. I hope you appreciate where you live. This is the best place.
It is the best. It's the best state in the union.
It is. I will be back. Mark my words. And I had to come back to Connecticut in 2017 when they were going through layoffs. Said, we want to keep you, but you got to come back. So smart. And I loved my job. And so you leave and you go back. And I was watching how it was being handled here. And it was a lot different than the Northeast, as you know, just like California.
And basically, long story short, I went on a podcast. Anybody remember Jay Cutler? Yeah. Sports fans, former Bears quarterback. I did a ton of terrible... I'm a Bears fan.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Sage Steele face during her career at ESPN?
And also for news breaking, we have our phones. You go to X, you go somewhere else. It's not must see TV anymore.
It's the exclusive rights they have. Correct.
And they've done a great job with that. And that is why they're still standing. But the problem, as I told my bosses for years, long before things went crazy in 2020 with COVID and George Floyd, Please keep it separate. Diversity of thought. Diversity of thought. And we were told not to tweet or talk about politics unless...
They agreed with what you were saying if it was anything on the left, basically wokeism. So that's when I said enough is enough.
And if you're going to allow all of my peers to talk about their politics because they align with Disney on ESPN Airwaves, and I can't go on a day off on a separate podcast separating myself from ESPN to not just talk about my opinions but my experiences as a biracial woman, a proud biracial woman,
As a mother who just wanted to protect myself and my kids from these mandates, I can have an opinion, especially if I'm complying with your rules and I comply. So that's when I hired an attorney, the same attorney, by the way, who helped and represented Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson right now as we speak. If you get in trouble in the media, Brian Friedman's your guy, let me tell you.
It was devastating to have to file that lawsuit. It broke me. That was my dream job and I was so proud of it. But for 16 months, from the moment the lawsuit was filed to the moment we settled, who sues their employer while they're still working there and on their airwaves every day? I would go in shaking, feeling sick every day. And I'll shut up after this.
I would pull into the parking lot and call my mom and dad. I'm 52 years old, I call my parents three times a day still, you're never too old for mom and dad. And I'd call my parents and we would pray right before I walked into those doors to go on TV and represent my company and try to represent the fans out there.
And for those of you Catholics and others, the prayer is Saint Michael the Archangel, protect us from the wickedness and snares of the devil, rebuke and we humbly pray.
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Chapter 4: How did Sage Steele respond to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate?
Furries.
In Scottsdale Unified School District, they have this.
So when you see the craziness and you're living it, and then you're trying to teach your children to stand up for what they believe in, what I realized was that if I stayed quiet... If I... settled and did all the things and trying to build a new career from scratch, from nothing after being canceled 86 times. And then I still stay silent.
I fought on the first amendment on my right for free speech too. If you're going to let my coworkers say it because you agree with them, but not me, that is in violation. So if I stood up for free speech, but then I go silent with the most obvious things, then I'm a hypocrite, not just to myself and whichever viewers may watch me or follow me, but to my three kids.
When we're telling our girls and boys to stand up and be strong and not take it, and then we're silent, we are complicit. So I realized, for me... I had to do it. And then the best part about getting canceled so many times is then you realize it's okay. Like, I don't care. I think that was the biggest thing I learned through this whole process.
As a firstborn pleaser my whole life, that goody-two-shoes girl trying to make sure everybody, my mom, my dad, my brothers, my uncles, my neighbors, the people who don't know me, everybody likes me. And the most powerful thing was to be okay being disliked. and to let go of that fear of being disliked. And if I can teach that by showing this to my kids, then this is worth it.
And the day, I'll say this, the day before the lawsuit dropped, I went to each one of my kids. Quinn was a freshman at High Point. Nicholas was a senior in high school. And Evan was a sophomore in high school. And each kid, I said, guys, I'm sorry, this lawsuit's about to drop. It's going to affect you.
In the past when speaking up, people had threatened my kids, threatened to rape my daughters, saying the worst things because of their mother's opinion. And so I said, guys, I'm sorry for what's coming at you. Don't ever defend me. Don't ever feel the need to defend me.
Just remind people, especially those who preach diversity and tolerance and equity, that diversity of thought is where it all begins. So my mom has a right to her opinion. You don't have to agree, but she has that right. But don't feel the need to defend me. And I went to my son, who I always say, he's my saint in between my two brothers. not psycho, but kind of crazy daughters, psycho.
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Chapter 5: What led Sage Steele to speak out politically?
I was able to talk to you for like 12 minutes on my podcast because we're doing a short one. So it's the Sage Steele Show YouTube. I didn't understand that you needed subscribers. Like I didn't know anything. I worked at a TV network. You just tune in and that's how I get paid. Like I get a salary and a paycheck. It's a contract. That's not what this world is. So if you would subscribe.
Sage Steele podcast.
Everyone should subscribe to the Sage Steele podcast. Do it now.
But it's about conversations. It's about conversations, even with people you don't agree with.
And here's the thing. I think that we, remember, Sage Steele did this for a living for a while. She asks great questions. She's a phenomenal interviewer.
My parents were my guests last week, and it was the most important show I've ever done. It was my mom and dad.
Phenomenal. Let's start here. On this side, everybody, if you want to start lining up for questions here, don't be shy. Yes, sir.
First of all, actually, before I saw you at Carolyn LeVitt at the White House being introduced there, I've actually never heard of you. I like that.
That's nice.
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Chapter 6: What are Sage Steele's views on current issues in women's sports?
Chapter 7: How can individuals stand up for their beliefs?
You told us to close down the schools. You told us that the virus came from a wet market in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Not the Wuhan Institute of Virology. How about just some contrition that you misled the entire civilization and then called us names and then smeared us for years on end? And then the other part. You need to apologize for what you didn't cover.
The lack of coverage and intentional conspiracy, and I use that word conspiracy to not cover Joe Biden's mental decline, is one of the greatest acts of journalistic malpractice in the history of the spoken and written world. Period. I want you to think about what they really did. President Donald Trump, if he orders two Diet Cokes, we know the New York Times within 90 minutes.
Most transparent president ever, but I mean, they're covering every breath of this White House, right? Joe Biden was legitimately incapacitated, unaware of who he was and where he was. Not a joke, not something that I'm just saying is comedic. And the media then did not just cover it. They said those of us that were noticing it were right-wing conspiracy extremists.
So they actively covered up for it. That's even worse. So they didn't cover the story, they covered it up. And then we can see with our own lying eyes, like, wow, he's not well. And President Trump, in all of his infinite wisdom, and I believe the hand of God is on President Trump, because even the media says he's very lucky. No, no, this guy is blessed.
I was, and I was wrong, because you just never doubt Donald Trump's instincts, honestly. It was this whole debate of whether or not he should do the summer debate against Joe Biden. Whether or not he should do that summer debate. And the consensus was, don't do it. You're winning in the polls. It's an only way for him to resurrect his chances. It's too high risk.
And if he does bad, they'll pull him and get another candidate. And he's like, no, no, no, I want to do it. And forget the political strategy. He won, so it doesn't really matter. But on full display, I think at that moment, we will look back at 100 million people realizing the media is completely fraudulent. Because there was no filter. There was no ability to interrupt.
There was no, we're going to cut to commercial break. That full mental implosion of Joe Biden in that one moment, where, oh, you know, COVID, you remember that? Donald Trump's instincts to put that on full display was the death of the power center of the mainstream media. And I don't say this with a lot of delight, and I don't want to take too much time on this. We actually do need good media.
You need people that look after stories. You need journalists.
We need it, absolutely. But at that moment, yes. And also, kudos to Donald Trump in that moment for complete self-control. And he just got quiet and let him fry. Let him do it to himself. Sorry.
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