Former ESPN Newscaster Sage Steele Says Barbara Walters ‘Elbowed’ & Tried To ‘Tackle’ Her Backstage at ‘The View’

Former ESPN Newscaster Sage Steele Says Barbara Walters 'Elbowed' & Tried To 'Tackle' Her Backstage at 'The View'

Sage Steele is opening up about her experience with the late Barbara Walters.

While making a guest appearance on Megyn Kelly‘s show, the former ESPN newscaster revealed it wasn’t a pleasant meeting, and instead, accused Barbara of assault.

Keep reading to find out more…

According to Sage, Barbara elbowed and tried to tackle her while they were backstage at The View.

“It was Barbara, Whoopi [Goldberg] and myself in the dark green room off to the side,” she shared on the show. “I was probably about four feet from the wall and the trash can, and Barbara was standing over here in front of me. She just started to back up toward me and looked at me and got close and elbowed me, and it pushed me back into the wall and the trash can. I was like, ‘What did [she] just do to me? This 140-year-old woman just tried to like tackle me.’”

Sage did add that the incident occurred just after The View had aired a segment on Barack Obama, whom she had spoken out about in the past.

“Some of the producers saw it. Whoopi saw it. And Whoopi was like, ‘Come here.’ She was great. She pulled me aside in her little area and she’s like, ‘Don’t you let her do it,’” Sage then recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Am I in a movie right now?’ One of the legends in this industry just tried to beat me up!”

Barbara died late last year.