Rachel Nichols made Maria Taylor ‘diversity’ dig in secret ESPN video
NY Post
Rachel Nichols’ secretly recorded phone conversation from last July has been leaked, and it is creating major issues at ESPN.
In an explosive New York Times story, an audio clip from a video reveals Nichols expressing her displeasure that Maria Taylor was given NBA Finals hosting duties last year, and believes the color of her skin has a lot to do with it. Nichols is white and Taylor — whose future at the network is uncertain as she looks for a big raise, as The Post’s Andrew Marchand reported — is black. “I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said last July, according to video obtained by 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.”You are the face of Major League Baseball, the $700 Million Man, and your close friend, your interpreter, betrays you, allegedly steals $16M from your bank account to pay off his gambling debts. An MLB investigation into The Scandal Heard ’Round the World, from here to Japan and back, thankfully absolves you. It does not cost you your reputation, or your growing legacy.
Whenever seasons like the one the Knicks just completed end, I always find myself back outside the visiting locker room at old Mile High Stadium. I always find myself standing with a handful of writers surrounding Bill Parcells maybe half an hour after the Jets lost the AFC Championship game to the Broncos.