Maria Taylor breaks silence after ESPN drops Rachel Nichols for NBA finals

Reporter says she is ‘still in the fight’ after colleague criticised for diversity comments

Maria Taylor (ESPN/YouTube)

Maria Taylor, a reporter at the centre of a racism controversy at ESPN, has spoken out after her colleague, Rachel Nichols, was dropped from coverage of the NBA finals.

Breaking her silence on Wednesday, Ms Taylor tweeted that in “dark times I always remember that I am in this position to open doors and light the path that others walk down”.

It follows a New York Times report on Sunday in which Ms Nichols criticised ESPN for selecting Ms Taylor, who is Black, to cover the 2020 NBA finals. Her comments were caught on an audio clip.

Ms Nichols was heard telling colleagues that ESPN had selected Ms Taylor for the 2020 finals because it was “feeling the pressure” on the issue of diversity, and that it was “taking my thing away”.

“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,” said Ms Nichols in July 2020.

“You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.”

ESPN announced on Tuesday that Ms Nichols will not reappear on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown”, a pregame and halftime show, for the 2021 finals, after she was criticised for her remarks.

Ms Taylor, who added on Wednesday that she has “taken some punches” but was “still in the fight”, will appear on “NBA Countdown” during the finals between the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Ms Nichols will continue hosting episodes of “The Jump”, a weekday show for ESPN online.

She apologised on Sunday, telling ESPN viewers that she was “deeply sorry” and that she was told as a journalism trainee to not “be the story”.

She added that she did not “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”.