ESPN host Rachel Nichols issued an apology on Monday after a report surfaced revealing she made negative comments about a Black colleague and the sport network’s efforts to increase diversity.
“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,” Nichols said in opening Monday’s edition of “The Jump,” which covers the NBA. “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.”
The New York Times reported on Sunday that during a conversation with an adviser to LeBron James, Adam Mendelsohn, and the NBA superstar’s agent, Rich Paul, Nichols criticized ESPN’s decision to choose Maria Taylor, a Black host and analyst, over her to host coverage of last year’s finals.
“I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said, according to the Times. “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.”
In her comments, Nichols added that hosting the finals was in her contract, the newspaper noted.
“I just want them to go somewhere else” to beef up diversity and inclusion initiatives, she reportedly added.
Nichols’s apology on Monday was met with apparent acceptance from two former NBA players, both of whom are Black, Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson.
“I know your heart, great person, great individual,” Perkins said. “My only hope is that we have a commitment overall to support each other through this process and continue to support each other through our journey.”
Jefferson said that “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,” he said. “No one is excused.”
Deadline reported that Taylor is currently negotiating for a new contract with ESPN and her current deal expires July 20.