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In what will come as a big blow to Rachel Nichols’ fans, ESPN has dropped the broadcaster from all NBA programming. The network has also cancelled Nichols’ weekday show, The Jump. Nichols hosted the basketball show for the last five years, since 2016.
ESPN’s decision comes a month after it came to light that Rachel Nichols had made controversial comments about one of her colleagues, Maria Taylor, during the 2020 NBA’s Orlando bubble. Nichols made the remarks in a private conversation to LA Lakers’ superstar LeBron James’ adviser, Adam Mendelsohn. Nichols, a White woman, told Mendelsohn that Taylor, a Black lady, had been chosen to host the 2020 NBA Finals coverage ahead of her because ESPN was feeling pressure on diversity.
“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,” Nichols said in the private conversation.
Rachel Nichols was in her hotel room when she made the remarks, unaware that her video camera was on and the conversation was being recorded. As a result of the leaked conversation, ESPN removed Nichols as a sideline reporter for the 2021 NBA Finals and cancelled one episode of The Jump. Taylor, meanwhile, left ESPN and joined NBC. Nichols, nonetheless, apologized on air for her remarks, saying how, “deeply, deeply sorry I am for disappointing those I hurt, particularly Maria Taylor.”
Rachel Nichols reacted to ESPN’s latest decision, sharing a post on social media, saying, “Got to create a whole show and spend five years hanging out with some of my favourite people… The Jump was never built to last forever but it sure was fun.”
What next for Rachel Nichols?
Rachel Nichols had signed a contract extension with ESPN last season. Her daily show, The Jump, is quite popular with fans across the world. With Nichols as host, the show featured a number of former NBA players such as Kendrick Perkins, Scottie Pippen, Paul Pierce and Richard Jefferson as analysts. The show has a cool and fun vibe, even as it touches on the important day-to-day developments in the NBA.
Having built her brand with The Jump, Rachel Nichols will be in demand around networks and platforms in the sporting world. She has a very affable personality and her own insights and knowledge of the NBA are quite insightful and incisive. Nichols’ situation is in some aspects similar to celebratory American sports analyst, author and podcaster Bill Simmons. Simmons, who built a name for himself at ESPN in the early 2000s, was fired by the network in 2015. With his own reputation intact, Simmons went on to launch the popular sporting and cultural platform, The Ringer.
Rachel Nichols, an Emmy nominee, could find herself in a similar position. After the controversy about her comments against Taylor, and her firing from ESPN die down, she could launch her own sports show or be lapped up by other networks. Her Twitter and Instagram following stands close to a combined figure of two million.
Shortly after her comments against Taylor, Nichols already found support from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who said during a media availability session before Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals that, “Careers shouldn't be erased by a single comment. That we should be judging people by the larger context of their body of work and who they are and what we know about them,” Silver said.
Also read: 5 TV show hosts in the NBA who have been involved in controversies
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