Rachel Nichols Is Out—But ESPN’s Racial Rot Remains
The Rachel Nichols/Maria Taylor and Kevin Durant/Draymond Green sagas reveal how Black employees are mistreated by largely white management.
Our relationship to sports-as-media is changing. In one of the most ironic reversals of the digital era, it’s athletes themselves pulling the levers. And the premier athletes in American sports are in the NBA. So, what happens in that league has the greatest potential for causing a ripple effect. Two moments from the past year explain this changing landscape pretty succinctly: the recent conversation between Draymond Green and Kevin Durant touching on their highly publicized beef during Durant’s final year with the Golden State Warriors; and ESPN’s shady handling of one of their most talented broadcasters and journalists, Maria Taylor, culminating in this week’s icing of Rachel Nichols and the cancellation of her daily NBA show The Jump.
Earlier this week, ESPN announced that they’d booted longtime broadcaster Rachel Nichols from NBA coverage after an eventful summer wherein a private recording of her demeaning ESPN colleague Maria Taylor—essentially branding her an underqualified diversity hire—hit the internet. Taylor, who is one of many Black women (including WNBA players, journalists, and commentators) leading the conversations around race and sports, particularly through the minefield of the George Floyd protests last summer, earned the position of hosting the 2021 NBA Finals pre- and postgame shows. Nichols believed her spot to be teflon: “I just want them to go somewhere else” she told Adam Mendelsohn (an adviser to LeBron James) on the call—“it’s in my contract, by the way; this job is in my contract in writing.” Welp.
A couple days, an extremely awkward public apology—that saw former players turned analysts Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins doing their best impression of Denzel Washington in his 2000s white girl-savior era—and a few weeks of acting like none of this happened later, and that contract that Nichols touted went to hell. She’s basically out.
Earlier this week, ESPN announced that they’d booted longtime broadcaster Rachel Nichols from NBA coverage after an eventful summer wherein a private recording of her demeaning ESPN colleague Maria Taylor—essentially branding her an underqualified diversity hire—hit the internet. Taylor, who is one of many Black women (including WNBA players, journalists, and commentators) leading the conversations around race and sports, particularly through the minefield of the George Floyd protests last summer, earned the position of hosting the 2021 NBA Finals pre- and postgame shows. Nichols believed her spot to be teflon: “I just want them to go somewhere else” she told Adam Mendelsohn (an adviser to LeBron James) on the call—“it’s in my contract, by the way; this job is in my contract in writing.” Welp.
A couple days, an extremely awkward public apology—that saw former players turned analysts Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins doing their best impression of Denzel Washington in his 2000s white girl-savior era—and a few weeks of acting like none of this happened later, and that contract that Nichols touted went to hell. She’s basically out.
YOU KNOW THE REST HAHA
RACISM'S TIME IS UP!
REMEMBER THIS CRINGEWORTHY APOLOGY FROM THIS RACIST SNOWFLAKE BITCH? haha.
