ESPN and Rachel Nichols have agreed to a settlement, officially ending her tenure with the media organization, according to the New York Post.
This comes after The New York Times reported last July on a 2020 conversation between Nichols and media and athlete adviser Adam Mendelsohn. Nichols lamented ESPN reporter Maria Taylor’s increased NBA coverage at the network, claiming that Taylor was given that work in part due to the network’s “crappy longtime record on diversity.” Taylor, who is Black, served as ESPN’s host for coverage of the 2020 NBA Finals, an assignment Nichols was reportedly expected to receive.
“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. “Just find it somewhere else.”
Nichols later publicly apologized for her comments. Per the Post, Nichols had one year remaining on her contract, but the network ultimately pulled her from NBA coverage prior to this season. After being removed from her role as ESPN’s sideline reporter for the 2021 NBA Finals, the network then moved her off the their NBA programming, canceling The Jump.
Shortly after Nichols’s comments were made public, Taylor left ESPN to join NBC Sports.
