Ex-ESPN Star Sage Steele Says Barbara Walters Physically Assaulted Her in 2014 Backstage at 'The View'
Aug. 17 2023, Published 8:17 p.m. ET
Sage Steele alleged the late Barbara Walters assaulted her in 2014 in The View's greenroom following a tension-filled segment, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The 50-year-old ESPN star claimed that Walters, who died in December at 93, physically attacked her in front of Whoopi Goldberg, telling Megyn Kelly on her podcast that the incident allegedly occurred after Steele appeared on the syndicated talk show.
“Barbara Walters, she attacked you? Wait what?!” Kelly asked in disbelief.
“It was Barbara, Whoopi, and myself in the dark greenroom on the side,” Steele answered, claiming the longtime journalist "pushed" her into a wall.
“I was probably 4 feet from the wall and the trash can and Barbara was standing over here in front of me and she just started to back up towards me and looked at me and got close and elbowed me and it pushed me back into the wall and the trash can,” Steele explained. “I was like, ‘What did [she] just do to me? This 140-year-old woman just tried to like tackle me.’”
Sage Steele made the accusations while talking to Megyn Kelly.
According to Steele, Goldberg was there to comfort her after the alleged assault, which she added was witnessed by Walters' co-host and The View's staffers.
“Some of the producers saw it,” Steele told Kelly. “Whoopi saw it and she was like, ‘Come here.’ And she was great. And she pulled me aside in her little area and she’s like, ‘Don’t you let her do it.’ I’m like, am I in a movie right now? One of the legends that in this industry just tried to beat me up!”
RadarOnline.com has reached out to Goldberg's team and The View for comment.
This wasn't the first dust-up that Steele had with Walters.
The former ESPN anchor claimed on Uncut with Jay Cutler that Walters had previously criticized her on The View for identifying as a biracial woman after Barbara mentioned Barack Obama identified solely as a Black male while also being half-Black and half-white.
Steele's latest allegations against Walters come just days after she left her 16-year career at ESPN and settled a lawsuit against the network. She sued her employer and its parent company Disney in April, claiming she was sidelined from her position over the remarks she made on Culter's podcast.
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"Having successfully settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. “I am grateful for so many wonderful experiences over the past 16 years and am excited for my next chapter!”
Despite the allegations, a spokesperson for ESPN told TheWrap that the network and Steele “mutually agreed to part ways."
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