ESPN’s Rachel Nichols found herself in the headlines earlier this summer after a leaked phone call and comments she made about ESPN colleague Maria Taylor.
Her leaked phone call from 2020 seemed to imply that Taylor’s hiring by ESPN was due to the network’s “feeling pressure about (its) crappy longtime record on diversity.”
Despite an apology for her comments, the NBA made the decision to remove her from sideline covering the NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns. And now, it’s been taken a step further.
According to reports, ESPN has removed Nichols from all programming, and has also cancelled her weekday afternoon show “The Jump”:
Rachel Nichols will no longer appear on ESPN and ESPN canceled The Jump, a source confirms. @Ourand_SBJ first.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) August 25, 2021
She was informed of the changes this week, but will still remain under contract with ESPN.
“We mutually agreed that this approach regarding our NBA coverage was best for all concerned,” ESPN Senior VP/Production David Roberts said in a statement emailed to SBJ. “Rachel is an excellent reporter, host and journalist, and we thank her for her many contributions to our NBA content.”
– – Quotes via Real GM Link – –
The worst part is, unless the comments were hateful, she is right about diversity hiring. Years ago at a casino in MS, I was playing blackjack and a dealer was talking about a new casino that was scheduled to open like 3 weeks earlier, but still wasn’t open. The reason, diversity hiring. A survey was done and the New Orleans area was something like 60% white, 30% black, 5% Asian, 3% Mexican and 2% Indonesian, or some not so common race for that area. They had to hire by these %, and couldn’t find the 2% Indonesian, so they couldn’t open until that was filled. Yes, it’s crazy. Yes, equality is great, but you can’t have everything match 100%. It would be like saying this about the NBA. It doesn’t bother me that blacks excel at the game, but it also doesn’t mean you must fill 60% of the benches with white guys(and I am white). Different races/sexes have their comfort zone, so don’t force it.