About two weeks ago, Indiana University trustee Sage Steele took to Fox News to demand athletes and musicians “shut up and dribble, shut up and sing,” after some criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection at the Grammy Awards. Her reasoning: “Because you’re super talented, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Beyond the immediate contradiction — how does one shut up while simultaneously singing? — Steele’s lecture reveals a staggering lack of self-awareness. She seems entitled to act as a moral and intellectual authority, while she has spent her own career as a professional observer, rising to prominence at ESPN by narrating the very talent she now seeks to silence. A profound hypocrisy lies in belittling the group to whom she owes her entire livelihood.
If Steele believes fame and talent disqualify one from commenting on social issues, we must ask: What exactly is her qualification to do so? She holds no advanced degrees in policy or law. Her career was built on sidelines and in studios, not in the halls of government. Even her current role as an IU trustee — an office she was appointed to despite having no qualifications in higher education — hardly grants her the right to dictate the boundaries of public discourse.
More recently, she doubled down. Again appearing on Fox News, she claimed Bad Bunny led “with hate” by choosing to perform in Spanish at the Super Bowl halftime show. She further claimed artists performing in their native language — or expecting locals to learn the lyrics in that language — would not be acceptable in other countries.
I’m not sure which artists Steele follows, but in almost every world tour I’ve heard of, the artists use their native language, and the fans sing along. She later tried to catch Bad Bunny in some hypocrisy for taking “our money,” apparently ignorant of the fact Super Bowl performers do not get paid by the NFL. A bit embarrassing, I think, considering she used to work for ESPN.
Most troubling is the disrespect her comments show IU faculty. If an IU professor were to tell students or colleagues to "shut up" based on their background or decided that speaking a certain language is “hateful,” they would likely be suspended under university policy stemming from Senate Enrolled Act 202 — if those laws and policies indeed apply equally to conservatives and liberals. One would think and hope a trustee is held to a standard at least as high as the faculty they oversee. Of course, given her apparent ignorance and lack of basic reasoning skills, I don’t think she could earn a position among the faculty.
I would tell Steele to “shut up and podcast,” but I prefer to avoid her brand of logical contradiction. Instead, I’ll simply ask her to be consistent — or shut up entirely.
Michael Jonelis graduated with a Bachelor of Science from IU Bloomington in 2021. He now works as a data scientist in Chicago.
