ESPN's Maria Taylor-Rachel Nichols fallout is just beginning

The Washington Post

The dispute Nichols' disparaging diversity comments about fellow NBA host Taylor has revived headlines about ESPN's complicated history of race. "This saga’s only at halftime," tweeted ESPN oral history book author James Andrew Miller. “The silence and apparent inaction by ESPN leaders over the last year is deafening,” added Dorothy Tucker, the president of the National Association of Black Journalists, who has sought a meeting with ESPN and Disney leadership. "As for Taylor, several industry insiders predicted this week that she would leave ESPN," reports The Washington Post's Ben Strauss. "NBC was named as one possible landing spot. But some believed there remains the possibility that ESPN and parent company Disney come back to the negotiating table, wary of the headlines that would follow losing Taylor. Nichols, meanwhile, faces a murkier future. She has a contract that runs through 2023. But after dismissive comments about diversity, can she cover a league, at ESPN or anywhere else, that is predominantly Black? Or can she credibly interview or cover James again after seeking advice from one of his advisers?"