What did Rachel Nichols say about Maria Taylor?
A "STORM" is brewing amongst ESPN's staff members as employees have long complained about the sports network's history of mishandling problems with racism. ESPN's The Jump host, Rachel Nichols, is in hot water after a video from 2020 leaked which reveals her "racial" comments about co-worker Maria Taylor's NBA Finals hosting duties. Nichols is a sports broadcaster who is currently a sports reporter, host, and anchor for ESPN. She hosts the NBA discussion show The Jump, which airs weekdays on ESPN. The Jump covers news and stories from around the league and features a panel of NBA analysts and players. Since 2019, the 47-year-old has been the host of NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC. 5 Rachel Nichols is the host of the ESPN show The Jump Credit: Getty Images - Getty  She also became a recurring guest-host on the podcast Pardon My Take, as well as on the TV show Pardon the Interruption. The New York Times revealed a bombshell report about a "storm" brewing at ESPN due to Nichols 2020 comments about Taylor. Many of ESPN's staff members of the popular show NBA Countdown and commentators, including Jalen Rose, Adrian Wojnarowski, and Jay Williams, have become angry with the network's mishandling problems with racism. According to the Times, ESPN had declined to discipline Nichols despite fury throughout the company over her remark, which she made during a phone conversation nearly a year ago after learning that she would not host coverage during the 2020 NBA finals, as she had been expecting. I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world - she covers football, she covers basketball, Nichols said in July 2020. 5 Rachel Nichols is in hot water after a video from 2020 leaked online revealed her behind-the-scene comments about Maria Taylor taking over hosting duties of the NBA Finals Credit: Getty  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' conversation came with Adam Mendelsohn, the longtime adviser of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and Jamess agent, Rich Paul. At the time, the 47-year-old sports reporter sought advice from Mendelsohn because she believed her bosses were advancing Taylor at her expense. However, unbeknown to Nichols, she was caught on a hot mic as it appeared her video camera was on, and the call was being recorded to a server at ESPNs headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. It is not clear why her camera was on, but most people at ESPN believe that Nichols, using new technology during a pandemic, did not turn it off properly. 5 It appeared Nichols was unaware her camera was recording her conversatoin Credit: Getty  According to the Times, dozens of ESPN employees have access to the companys video servers as part of their normal workflow. At least one of these people watched the video on the server, recorded it on a cellphone, and shared it with others. Soon, more copies of the conversation were spreading around ESPN. In a statement to the Times, Nichols said she was frustrated and was unloading to a friend about ESPNs process, not about Maria.  She added: My own intentions in that conversation, and the opinion of those in charge at ESPN, are not the sum of what matters here - if Maria felt the conversation was upsetting, then it was, and I was the cause of that for her.  Nichols said she reached out to Taylor to apologize through texts and phone calls. Maria has chosen not to respond to these offers, which is completely fair and a decision I respect, Nichols said. Nichols said the recording of the video by an ESPN colleague was hurtful. 5 Rachel Nichols told the New York Times that she's reached out to Maria Taylor and apologized, but has not heard a response Credit: Getty  I was shaken that a fellow employee would do this, and that other employees, including some of those within the NBA project, had no remorse about passing around a spy video of a female co-worker alone in her hotel room. I would in no way suggest that the way the comments came to light should grant a free pass on them being hurtful to other people, Nichols said. Nichols said that she was told that the content of the conversation did not warrant any discipline.  According to the NY Times, ESPN's NBA employees that work with both Taylor and Nichols were outraged upon watching the video. They were especially upset by what they perceived as Nicholss expression of a common criticism used by white workers in many workplaces to disparage non-white colleagues - that Taylor was offered the hosting job only because of her race, not because she was the best person for the job.