Rachel Nichols Apologizes for "Diversity" Comments on Maria Taylor

Source: ESPN's Rachel Nichols apologizes on 'The Jump' for comments about Maria Taylor (link)

ESPN NBA sideline reporter and “The Jump” host Rachel Nichols issued a brief apology for comments she made about diversity and her colleague Maria Taylor to kick off “The Jump” on Monday afternoon.

A bombshell report from The New York Times on Sunday detailed the alleged heavy internal strife at the network over comments Nichols made in 2020 while Nichols and Taylor were both being considered to host coverage for the NBA Finals.

According to them, Nichols was told by ESPN that Taylor, who is Black, was going to host the network’s coverage of the NBA Finals instead of her. Nichols was speaking with a longtime adviser of LeBron James, Adam Mendelsohn, on a call that was accidentally recorded and then later leaked.

During that call, Nichols can be heard saying that she thinks Taylor was only being promoted because of ESPN’s "bad record on diversity". As it turns out, that recording was accessible to numerous ESPN employees, one of whom eventually leaked it. That employee is the only one to have been disciplined over the incident so far, something that remains an “active source of pain” among other employees. The comments also upset plenty of her coworkers on “The Jump” and among those involved in NBA coverage, including Jalen Rose, Adrian Wojnarowski and Jay Williams.

Amidst this brewing controversy, Nichols made the apology. "The first thing they teach you in journalism school is don’t be the story, and I don’t plan to break that rule today or distract from a fantastic Finals,” she said. “But I also don’t want to let this moment pass without saying how much I respect, how much I value our colleagues here at ESPN, how deeply, deeply sorry I am for disappointing those I hurt, particularly Maria Taylor, and how grateful I am to be part of this outstanding team.”