Once again prominent black celebrities have shown they won’t toe the COVID-19 vaccine-mandate line, which, beginning at the White House, emanates primarily from the left.
ESPN anchor Sage Steele was the latest.
On Tuesday, Fox News reported that Steele, an ESPN fixture since 2007, was suspended for a week from her noontime anchor job because she publicly criticized the company’s vaccine mandate.
“I didn’t want to do it. But I work for a company that mandates it and I had until September 30 to get it done or I’m out,” Steele recently told former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler, who now hosts his own podcast.
“I respect everyone’s decision, I really do, but to mandate it is, um, sick,” Steele added, according to Fox News. “And it’s scary to me in many ways. But I have a job, a job that I love, and frankly, a job that I need, but again, I love it. I’m not surprised it got to this point, especially with Disney, a global company … but it was actually emotional.”
ESPN, which is owned by Disney, told Fox that it embraces “different views,” but only so long as those views are respectful and align with the company’s values and policies. In this case, Steele didn’t meet those requirements. Steele also was reportedly removed from hosting a women-in-sports summit later this month.
Steele, who has tested positive for the virus, subsequently buckled and issued an apology.
“I know my recent comments created controversy for the company, and I apologize,” she said. “We are in the midst of an extremely challenging time that impacts all of us, and it’s more critical than ever that we communicate constructively and thoughtfully.”
Yet Steele’s comments only underscored the fact that more prominent black celebrities are rejecting mandates.
A new addition to that list was another NBA star, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
At a press conference recently, Green defended teammate Andrew Wiggins, who also is black and, as The Free Press recently reported, has said he won’t get the vaccine.
“That’s something that’s personal to him. That’s health-related, that’s something that’s personal to his family,” Green said.
Green said the debate over mandates has turned into a “political war.”
And, he added, “When you make something so political and not everyone is into politics, then you also turn those people off.”
People’s concerns about “something that’s being pressed so hard” should be acknowledged, he said.
“You have to honor people’s feelings, and their own personal beliefs,” he continued. “I think that’s been lost when it comes to vaccinated and nonvaccinated. And it kinda sucks that that’s been lost.”
“You say we live in the land of the free, but you’re not giving anyone freedom. … That goes against everything America supposedly stands for.”
One person who rallied behind Green was LeBron James, who tweeted, “Couldn’t have said it any better @Money23Green!” James, too, has said it should be a personal choice for getting the jab.
Liberals, meanwhile, who applied the likes of James and Green when they denounced and defied Donald Trump, are upset that prominent black Americans are thinking for themselves on vaccine mandates.
For example, New York Daily News columnist Stefan Bondy said of Green, “Explanations like ‘it’s a personal choice’ and ‘I will do my own research’ aren’t freethinking or courageously rebellious. They’re anti-science. They’re entitled. And selfish.”
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