Sage Steele Was Told to Not 'Deviate From the Script' During 2021 Interview With Joe Biden: 'It Was So Structured'

Sage Steele, who is no longer with ESPN, is sharing more details about her 2021 interview with President Joe Biden.

"That was an interesting experience in its own right because it was so structured," Steele told Fox News Digital. "And I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script and go.’"

During the interview, Steele, 51, asked Biden, 81, about sports leagues dealing with COVID-19 and how some athletes and fans were hesitant to get the shot in the first place.

"To the word. 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," the TV star continued of the experience. "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."

This isn't the first time Steele, who sued ESPN in April 2022 after claiming she was unfairly punished after her political and social issues drew criticism outside of work, spoke about her experience with Biden. (She later left the company after the two sides reached a settlement.)

“He struggled,” Steele told Bill Maher on his "Club Random" podcast on Sunday, October 1, 2023, adding that the president “trailed off” on different topics.

At the time, there were some technical issues that affected the flow of the interview. “So I had to, like, BS. I had to chit-chat, waiting for us to start rolling," she said.

“So I can hear him and he goes, ‘What is this for? Wait — what’s her name?’” Steele said of the interview, which took place ahead of MLB’s Opening Day that year.

“I was going, ‘Oh my God!’ And then [an aide] said, ‘SportsCenter, ESPN.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, OK,'" she continued.

Steele recalled Biden talking about his sports history, but things didn't go the way she had hoped.

“And so he started to tell football stories of his greatness,” Steele said, noting that she couldn't see him on the screen. “He goes, ‘I have the best hands.’ What do you say to that? And here’s the saddest thing — his voice just trailed off. He said, ‘I was good,’ and then he went silent, and he goes …, ‘Uh, never mind.’ I thought it was so sad because I realized that’s why he was in the basement during the whole election cycle — because even then he couldn’t finish his sentences, he struggled.”

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