ESPN scandal claims Nichols
Show canceled; veteran reporter off NBA coverage
ESPN is canceling Rachel Nichols’ show, “The Jump,” and pulling her off NBA programming, almost two months after it was revealed she was caught on audio tape suggesting colleague Maria Taylor’s promotion was diversity-related.
David Roberts, who was named last week to oversee the network’s NBA coverage, said in a statement that “we mutually agreed that this approach regarding our NBA coverage was best for all concerned.”
“Rachel is an excellent reporter, host and journalist, and we thank her for her many contributions to our NBA content,” Roberts said.
Nichols also confirmed the move on her Instagram page. Sports Business Journal was the first to report it.
ESPN will have a new daily NBA show that will premiere sometime before the regular season begins in October. Roberts also will be responsible for revamping and finding a host for the network’s “NBA Countdown” show, given Taylor’s departure to NBC.
Nichols, whose contract expires in early 2023, has been an integral part of ESPN’s NBA coverage since she returned to the network in 2016. “The Jump” started in February that year and went from airing only during the season to a nearly year-round fixture. She also was the sideline reporter for most of ESPN’s top national games this season.
Nichols came under fire, though, after a report by The New York Times on July 4 detailed critical comments she made about Taylor.
Nichols, who is white, made the comments last year when she learned Taylor, who is Black, would lead ESPN’s NBA Finals coverage after the network had announced in a news release in October 2019 that Nichols would be the host.
In a phone conversation obtained by the newspaper, Nichols said: “I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball. 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.”