Sage Steele claims Barbara Walters physically attacked her backstage on The View

Former ESPN sportscaster Sage Steele has alleged that the late Barbara Walters physically accosted her backstage whereas filming The View.

Trailblazing journalist Walters, who died final yr aged 93, created, produced and co-hosted The View for 17 seasons between 1997 and 2014.

“It was Barbara, Whoopi [Goldberg] and myself at midnight inexperienced room off to the facet,” Steele stated on The Megyn Kelly Show podcast on Thursday (17 August).

“I used to be most likely about 4 toes from the wall and the trash can, and Barbara was standing over right here in entrance of me. She simply began to again up towards me and checked out me and obtained shut and elbowed me, and it pushed me again into the wall and the trash can. I used to be like, ‘What did [she] simply do to me? This 140-year-old lady simply tried to love sort out me.’”

The presenter stated the incident occurred following a section about Barack Obama on the favored US speak present. Steele served as a visitor co-host of The View for 5 episodes in 2014.

Steele alleged: “A number of the producers noticed it. Whoopi noticed it. And Whoopi was like, ‘Come right here.’ She was nice. She pulled me apart in her little space and she or he’s like, ‘Don’t you let her do it.’ And I’m like, ‘Am I in a film proper now?’ One of many legends on this trade simply tried to beat me up!”

A consultant for Walters’s property responded to Steele’s accusations in an e mail to The Unbiased, writing: “I discover this unattainable to consider and uncharacteristic of Barbara!”

The Unbiased has contacted Goldberg’s representatives for remark.

On Tuesday (15 August), Steele introduced that she had settled a lawsuit she filed after being disciplined for feedback she made about ESPN’s coverage requiring staff to get vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19.

“Having efficiently settled my case with ESPN/Disney, I’ve determined to depart so I can train my first modification rights extra freely,” she wrote. “I’m grateful for thus many great experiences over the previous 16 years and am excited for my subsequent chapter!”

Steele was taken off the air for 10 days in October 2021 and pulled from a number of high-profile assignments, together with protection of the New York Metropolis Marathon, the Rose Parade, and the annual ESPNW Summit, as a result of she criticized ESPN and The Walt Disney Firm’s requirement that staff be vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19, in accordance with her lawsuit, which was filed in Might 2022 in Connecticut Superior Courtroom.

She additionally was required to make a public apology, the lawsuit stated.

“ESPN and Sage Steele have mutually agreed to half methods,” spokesman Josh Krulewitz wrote. “We thank her for her many contributions through the years.”