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#3 Colin Cowherd (2015)
Host of the popular American NBA sports talk show 'The Herd', Colin Cowherd was the center of a major controversy in 2015. Known for his NBA hot takes, Cowherd was fired by ESPN for his remarks on the intelligence of baseball players who hail from the Dominican Republic.
ESPN issued an apology statement, and so did Cowherd, but he had to part ways with the network immediately. MLB also condemned Cowherd's remarks, and demanded an apology from him.
Cowherd currently appears on 'The Herd', with co-host Joy Taylor.
#2 Stephen A Smith (2021)
Stephen A Smith made headlines for all the wrong reasons when he came out and condemned Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani's use of an interpreter. Smith is arguably the most popular face amongst all the NBA talk show hosts, but had to apologize profusely for his offensive statement.
Smith said that Ohtani couldn't be the face of the sport of baseball, because of his use of an interpreter. He received flak from his colleagues, with Mina Kimes and Pablo Torre coming out in support of the MLB star.
Smith hosts the NBA talk show 'First Take', which airs on ESPN Network.
#1 Rachel Nichols (2021)
Rachel Nichols took the world of media by storm when a leak of her conversation with Adam Mendelsohn, an advisor to NBA star LeBron James, came out.
Nichols suggested that her colleague Maria Taylor got the job of covering the 2020 NBA finals due to her ethnicity and not on merit. She cited ESPN's poor history of not promoting diversity as the reason behind her statement.
Rachel Nichols was pulled out of ESPN's 2021 NBA finals program, and Malika Andrews brought in to replace her. Nichols, though, continued to be the host of 'The Jump', and also apologized profusely to both the audience and Taylor for her distasteful remarks.
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