Former ESPN host Sage Steele said she wishes Rev. Al Sharpton would "go away" after he threw support behind recently resigned Harvard University president Claudine Gay.
In a Tuesday statement, Sharpton said Gay's resignation was "about more than a person or a single incident."
"This is an attack on every Black woman in this country who's put a crack in the glass ceiling," the reverend wrote. "It's an assault on the health, strength, and future of diversity, equity, and inclusion - at a time when Corporate America is trying to back out of billions of dollars in commitments."
Sharpton also took aim at billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who led calls for Gay's resignation amidst claims of antisemitism and plagiarism. The reverend announced his civil rights organization, National Action Network (NAN), would protest Ackman's "attacks on [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion], President Gay, and Black Americans" to demonstrate that his actions "have consequences" and to show "New Yorkers, his investors, and Corporate America" can see the hedge fund manager "for who he is."
"If he doesn't think Black Americans belong in the C-Suite, the Ivy League, or any other hallowed halls, we'll make ourselves at home outside his office," the statement concluded.
During an appearance on Fox News' The Five, Steele said she wishes Sharpton would "go away."
"Almost every time Al Sharpton speaks, I get angry because Al Sharpton pretends that he knows what every single person of color in this country thinks, believes how they should live, how they should act, how they should vote," she told host Jesse Watters, adding the reverend was the wrong person to comment on Gay's resignation "right now."
"Remember Martin Luther King, Mr. Sharpton?" Steele continued. "I think you do judge me by the content of my character, not the color of my skin. What happened with Claudine Gay? There are some character issues, which is why she was forced to step down."
Gay resigned from her position as Harvard President on Tuesday after criticism of antisemitism on campus and mounting accusations of plagiarism. However, Gay will return to Harvard's faculty
"Better late than never, I guess, right?" Steele said of Gay's resignaion. "The fact that it took the plagiarism instead of what happened with Elise Stefanik is disturbing in its own right, but when you look through the entire letter that Harvard sent to its community."
"They mentioned she has taken responsibility for some mistakes, but what did they do that stood out to me the most?" Steele continued. "They denounced the racist attacks that were apparently coming Claudine Gay's way, as they should. Any racist attack should be denounced."
The former ESPN host said she "[doesn't] have much sympathy" for the former Harvard President and noted, "character to me is so much more concerning."
