ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols pulled from NBA Finals sideline after ‘racist’ hot mic storm
ESPN has removed Rachel Nichols from the sidelines for the NBA Finals after she was caught on a bombshell hot mic making disparaging remarks about a black colleague.
The network on Tuesday, calling it the "best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals."
Nichols will be replaced on the sidelines by Malika Andrews but will continue to host The Jump, ESPN said.
ESPN canceled a scheduled episode of The Jump for Tuesday night. The show will return tomorrow.
The stems from remarks she made around a year ago about network host Maria Taylor during a private conversation that was inadvertently caught on camera.
In a recording of the conversation, first released by the New York Times, Nichols is heard suggesting that Taylor was only picked to host the NBA finals coverage because ESPN was "feeling pressure" about diversity.
Nichols did not realize that the video was being recorded. The video was later uploaded to a server at the company's headquarters and then disseminated widely between ESPN employees.
“I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said in the footage, captured in July 2020.
"If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it.
"Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.”
The from Adam Mendelsohn, a long-time advisor to LeBron James, because she believed her bosses were advancing Taylor at her expense.
The call was held while Nichols was in a hotel room, inside the NBA 'bubble'. A camera she appeared to forget to switch off recorded the call and broadcasted it back to ESPN's headquarters.
In the recording, Mendelsohn says, in part, “I don’t know. I’m exhausted. Between Me Too and Black Lives Matter, I got nothing left.”
Nichols laughed at Mendelsohn's remarks.
The veteran host during a Monday night broadcast of The Jump.
She was also defended by her co-hosts, Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson.
"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," the veteran broadcaster began.
"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."
Perkins thanks Nichols for "accepting responsibility for your actions."
"You have treated me with the utmost respect and you always made me feel comfortable in your presence," he said.
Perkins continued of Nichols' rival host: "I also know Maria Taylor. Great person as well. Very, very talented, hardworking. And I feel like she deserves every opportunity that is presented her way."
Jefferson also offered his "full support" to Maria Taylor.
He continued: "Rachel and our entire group here have had some very difficult conversations over this time period, and those conversations don't end here.
"We will continue to have uncomfortable conversations. No one is excused. She is not excused. I am not excused. This doesn't just go away."
Mendelsohn has also apologized for his role in the scandal, telling CNBC on Monday: "I made a stupid, careless comment rooted in privilege and I am sincerely sorry.
"I shouldn't have said it," he added. "I work to support these movements and know that the people affected by these issues never get to be exhausted or have nothing left.
"I have to continue to check my privilege and work to be a better ally."
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Nichols initially joined ESPN in 2004 and was a regular on the network’s flagship show "SportsCenter" as well as the NFL and NBA shows.
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She left ESPN for CNN in 2013, later working for TNT'S NBA broadcasts before rejoining ESPN in 2016.
Taylor, meanwhile, had primarily been seen on ESPN’s coverage of college football since joining the company in 2013. She started hosting "NBA Countdown" in 2019.