ESPN Drops Rachels Nichols From NBA Programming

ESPN, the sports cable network division of Walt Disney Co DIS, has dropped Rachel Nichols from its NBA coverage and canceled her show weekday show “The Jump” in the wake of her controversial leaked comments regarding former colleague Maria Taylor.

What Happened: David Roberts, ESPN's senior vice president of production, issued a statement on Nichols’ removal from the network’s basketball coverage.

“We mutually agreed that this approach regarding our NBA coverage was best for all concerned,” Roberts said. “Rachel is an excellent reporter, host and journalist, and we thank her for her many contributions to our NBA content.”

Roberts’ next role with the company is uncertain — she has more than a year on her ESPN contract. “The Jump” has been part of ESPN’s programming since 2016 and Nichols’ hosting work was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award earlier this year.

Nichols acknowledged the decision on her Instagram page, writing, “Got to create a whole show and spend five years hanging out with some of my favorite people talking about one my favorite things. The Jump was never built to last forever but it sure was fun.”

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Why It Happened: Last month, the New York Times reported on a leaked telephone call that Nichols made in July 2020 questioning why Taylor, a Black woman, was given the assignment of ESPN's pregame and postgame coverage of the 2020 NBA Finals, a duty that was previously assigned to Nichols.

"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," Nichols said in the call. "Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away."

Kayla Johnson, a Black producer at ESPN, was identified as the source of the leaked video and received a two-week suspension; she later left the company. Taylor, who was in contract negotiations with ESPN when the story broke, left the company on July 21.

Photo: Rachel Nichols in her Instagram announcement of the end of her show "The Jump."