(Headline USA) Former ESPN host Sage Steele reportedly revealed this week that her 2021 interview with President Joe Biden was entirely “scripted” by network executives, likely in cooperation with the White House.
Steele said that before the interview, she was handed a “script” of prepared questions she could ask Biden.
“That was an interesting experience in its own right because it was so structured,” she told Fox News. “And I was told, ‘You will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script and go.’”
NEW: Sage Steele admits that her entire interview with Joe Biden was scripted and was ordered not to deviate from the script at all
“It was so structured and I was told, ‘you will say every word that we write out, you will not deviate from the script…’ to the word, like every… pic.twitter.com/jXqNLZWFIV
— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) April 3, 2024
Many of the questions written for Steele had to do with COVID vaccine hesitancy among athletes. Her role, she said, essentially was to give Biden an opportunity to defend pushing the jab onto the public.
“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,” she explained to Fox News. “It was very much ‘This is what you will ask. This is how you will say it. No follow-ups, no follow-ups. Next.’”
The former anchor said the questions were written and approved by “the top executives, the decision makers are, the president of our company, the CEO.” And though she couldn’t confirm whether they had been sent to the White House in advance, she said she is confident that’s “what happened.”
Steele said that looking back at the interview, it’s “heartbreaking” to consider how many guardrails have been set up to protect Biden.
“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?”
Biden has become heavily dependent on cheat sheets and note cards during his interactions with the press. In fact, he uses them so frequently that some Democratic donors have raised concerns about it.
“The staged Q&A sessions have left some donors wondering whether Biden can withstand the rigors of a presidential campaign, let alone potential debates with former President Trump, 77,” Axios reported earlier this year.
