Former ESPN host Sage Steele revealed that her 2021 interview with President Biden was "scripted" by network executives.
Steele recalled the "structured" nature of the pre-taped interview, so much so that her ESPN bosses handed her a "script" to go off of.
"That was an interesting experience in its own right because it was so structured," Steele said. "And I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script and go.’"
Many of the questions Steele asked Biden in the March 2021 interview pertained to sports leagues attempting to restore normalcy during the COVID pandemic and vaccine hesitancy among athletes and fans. Her interview made headlines at the time when Biden supported the MLB's All-Star game boycott of Atlanta following the passage of Georgia's election reform law.
Every single question was scripted, gone over dozens of times by many editors and executives. I was on script and was told not to deviate, "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."
Steele said she didn't know for certain whether ESPN sent the questions to the White House in advance of the interview but seemed confident that is "what happened."
Steele, who last week launched her new podcast "The Sage Steele Show," said her brief interaction with the oldest-sitting president was "heartbreaking," referring to his mental acuity.
"I think it's really heartbreaking that the people who love Joe Biden and say they truly care about him have allowed it to get to this point," Steele said. "So I'm not even looking at this from a political angle or my beliefs in anything. This is the human side of it. And when someone is struggling, we allow them to continue to be in the spotlight and put them out there in the first place when they knew there were issues? Of course, they had to know. So it's a humanity thing with me where I don't care where anyone stands and what they vote for or who they believe in. Do you really care about that person? As a father, as a husband, as an everything."
Former ESPN host Sage Steele shed light on what she alluded to as his cognitive decline from her interaction with him .
Appearing on Sunday's installment of Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast, Steele recalled her March 2021 sit-down with Biden.
"Honestly, I don't like him," Steele began. "I think he's a terrible president. However, forget that. The human aspect of what we're witnessing right now with him, to me, is heartbreaking. And it's inexcusable by the family when you knew during the election."
Steele recalled the "structured" nature of the pre-taped interview, so much so that her ESPN bosses handed her a "script" to go off of.
"That was an interesting experience in its own right because it was so structured," Steele said. "And I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script and go.’"
Many of the questions Steele asked Biden in the March 2021 interview pertained to sports leagues attempting to restore normalcy during the COVID pandemic and vaccine hesitancy among athletes and fans. Her interview made headlines at the time when Biden supported the MLB's All-Star game boycott of Atlanta following the passage of Georgia's election reform law.
Every single question was scripted, gone over dozens of times by many editors and executives. I was on script and was told not to deviate, "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."
Steele said she didn't know for certain whether ESPN sent the questions to the White House in advance of the interview but seemed confident that is "what happened."
Steele, who last week launched her new podcast "The Sage Steele Show," said her brief interaction with the oldest-sitting president was "heartbreaking," referring to his mental acuity.
"I think it's really heartbreaking that the people who love Joe Biden and say they truly care about him have allowed it to get to this point," Steele said. "So I'm not even looking at this from a political angle or my beliefs in anything. This is the human side of it. And when someone is struggling, we allow them to continue to be in the spotlight and put them out there in the first place when they knew there were issues? Of course, they had to know. So it's a humanity thing with me where I don't care where anyone stands and what they vote for or who they believe in. Do you really care about that person? As a father, as a husband, as an everything."
Former ESPN host Sage Steele shed light on what she alluded to as his cognitive decline from her interaction with him .
Appearing on Sunday's installment of Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast, Steele recalled her March 2021 sit-down with Biden.
"Honestly, I don't like him," Steele began. "I think he's a terrible president. However, forget that. The human aspect of what we're witnessing right now with him, to me, is heartbreaking. And it's inexcusable by the family when you knew during the election."
