[NYT] A Disparaging Video Prompts Explosive Fallout Within ESPN

Literally no one is doing that. You still have to meet deadlines and have the qualifications.

 

Got to get them clicks, facts be dammed.

Read the article there was nothing new in there.

 

The 1st article has 4 people in the byline, yes he is one of them.

I think he tested the wind and saw an angle he could exploit.

 

Stephen Jackson should have stayed out of it. What is he even doing?

Jalen Rose would never. lol

 

Taylor Rooks is so fine it hurts

 

I have to admit, I liked her for the most part and, even though I get why people are upset, was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. That apology though... please tell me there's more. I was hoping she would use this as an opportunity to grow, find out why people are upset, and teach others in the process...

 

If I was Jefferson or Perk I wouldn't have said a damn thing. "Just a thank you for that Rachel" and on to the Suns/Bucks preview

Jalen would never, lol

 

nope instead Perk and Jefferson said more than Rachel.. classic.. now Perk Jefferson and Sjax about to be dragged all over black twitter. JALEN ROSE WOULD NEVER!

 

I love this so much.

 

you start finding out how well connected some of these "I got here on merit" people are and it always blows my mind.

off topic: I just found out the gay girl in stranger things is Uma Thurman's daughter..

 

and Ethan Hawke. That’s so random cause last night I recognized her in Fear Street 1994.

 

A lot of stranger things people in that Fear Street trilogy series.

 

Like I said, This could easily be a case of wanting to demote Nichols for other reasons.

But when corporations make decisions based solely on a desire to diversify—that’s racist.

 

ESPN right now...

Spoiler

 

The Jump is a show about the NBA. It's not a show about behind-the-scenes ESPN drama. If she needs to apologize in long form, and I'm not so convinced she does, then that apology should be addressed internally to people within ESPN. Apparently she has attempted to contact Taylor, but Taylor has been unreceptive.

It's crazy that we are demanding these people to work out their internal disputes in front of us, like we have the moral authority to judge them on how they do so. This crap really isn't any of our business.

 

Well it depends. Every contract is made to be broken. Almost every contract contains a "morals clause", which effectively is a clause used to keep employees from participating in activities or taking actions which will embarrass their employer.

No question that Nichols' behavior is embarrassing; what NBA player is going to take her seriously or giver her the time of day at this point. She has lost all credibility.

May as well bring back Doris Burke.

At this point, ESPN is losing viewers on all sides.

 

My feelings on this are....

Let TNT do the finals. Yeah Charles and Shaq say silly things sometimes but it's at least 50x more entertaining.

 

Its always interesting to observe broader public sentiment because that above all else should really gauge where we are as a society. I was under the assumption that we have collectively decided that we need to have more diversity in jobs across the country. This is especially true for things like media and TV so that our culture can be more appropriately represented. How exactly does that happen without taking those jobs from white people? If this is what people want then as a result there are going to be people who may also be qualified who are discarded or at the risk of sounding morbid, sacrificed. This may seem extreme but what other option is there? When we are talking about diversity we are literally saying we need less white people doing things and more minorities in those roles. How else is this supposed to happen? And yet this kind of thing has always happened. Haven't whites had better opportunities this whole time specifically because of white privilege? In most instances progress is not pretty and is often messy. If you champion more diversity hires and then take offense to diversity hires it makes people question what any of this is for.

I am a supporter of diversity and I think it makes us much better as a society but this is what I cannot tolerate about our current society - So Rachel gets tossed even though she has a contractual agreement with ESPN. Maria Taylor, a minority getting this position is progress is it not? This is what people have been screaming for. And who paid the price for this progress? Rachel Nichols. What happens next? People collectively shame her. Call her names. Insinuate she's a racist. She may never work in media again. Did she make inflammatory posts on social media? No, a private phone call between herself and a friend was leaked A YEAR later. No matter how she felt she never once publicly said anything. People have become so focused on skin color that we have forgotten we are all human beings. We have the same wants, needs, insecurities and emotions as any other human. We've been conditioned through all of these external circumstances so that many people seem now to view different color as almost a different species or in some cases the enemy. Is this really what we want?

Three fourths of our entire country is made up of white people. Progress doesn't happen at all without a large percentage of these white people having the introspection, compassion and selflessness to change the system. That is just a fact. Are we supposed to believe that white human beings don't want successful careers? The world is hard enough as it is right now should they not fight for success in their lives? The overwhelming majority of the population is willingly hurting their own prospects and moving away from something that has worked for them for centuries. Why? Because humanity is good. Progress is slow but we see the good in people. Minorities always say they look after their own. That is the way its always been culturally throughout history. Now we have white people actively looking out for people who are not their own. That should not be taken lightly and I hope people realize what it takes in a society to get to that point and that all white people are not evil.

Unfortunately for Rachel, she was sacrificed for this very real change taking place. In the past, Egyptians or Aztecs would revere even slaves that were sacrificed. People used to call those who gave themselves up for the greater cause martyrs. In this society what do we do? We pile on to the person who suffered for change. We vilify them, ridicule them, act as if they are not worthy of living. Such hateful language. Such vile and aggressive self entitlement from all of the perfect human beings on social media and beyond. As if losing your career wasn't enough. As if the embarrassment of having your phone conversation being recorded isn't enough. Minorities have dealt with hell for such a long time and still do. Police aren't shooting at white kids and its not remotely fair to compare any of this to the depth of racism that still pervades our country. Not even close. But if you strongly believe in change, why not be at the very least civil to those who's lives are impacted for that change?

Do you think ESPN network executives care at all about diversity? They did all of this because they were after the highest profit possible at the time. They breached a contract because they wanted profits. They leak phone calls, they write hit pieces on one of their own, pit two women against each other under the guise of racial justice. It is absolutely shameful of them and anyone who wants social change should be livid that they would use an ideology that people literally die for in order to turn a profit. Its like people using God and religion for profit or political influence. Just sickeningly evil. And who are these people? I'm willing to bet very rich white men. What do they do for these social issues other than exploit them for profit? And you better believe they are feeling safe in their cushy jobs. No one is coming after them for their jobs are they? And instead of recognizing the evil here, we are mad at a talk show host for showing human emotion in a private phone call. If you want lasting change it needs to be addressed from the top down. Maybe if there were more diversity among executives and people at the very top of the food chain, we would see more of a lasting impact instead of putting a bandaid on everything and canceling everyone. Or maybe we need to re think what money is doing to our society and our planet. People of every political persuasion are looking for something to blame for the mess in the world and all of this misguided outrage spoon fed to us by politicians, TV networks and publications each for their own profit, just seems to be only making people more angry. Yet somehow those suits who play at our emotions and try to influence our collective thoughts work in the shadows and direct our anger at low hanging fruit like Rachel Nichols. And remarkably enough these same people who flayed one of their own female employees are all about Woman's rights when it is financially convenient for them. Somehow its too idealistic to go after those people. To make change at this level. Too unattainable a goal so we go after who they direct our anger at.

The January 6th attack was horrific and unacceptable. What I saw in the eyes of all those people that day was fear. They were convinced by the same cocktail of politicians and media that their ideals as Americans was under attack. These same people at the top, playing on the emotions of masses of people. Assuring them that God was on their side. How could it not be a struggle for all 3/4's of a society to adapt to something many perceive to be less beneficial to their way of life? It could be reasoned they are more selfish or brainless or resistant to change in some way but does that make them any less human? It doesn't make them all monsters, just scared people. Not everyone wants a transgender in the Miss America pagent or for the NFL to be gay. Their opinion is just invalid outright? Does that make them not worthy of being human? Are they repulsive abominations? As a working musician, the big topic going around is that music theory is racist because it came from Western Europe. In our own state, a theory teacher was disgraced and fired at UNT for holding to his beliefs regarding merits of music theory. Does anyone think its a good idea to stop teaching music theory in music schools because of racism? A lot of beauty and innovation came out of the European tradition and it accounted for a heck of a lot more than just racism. I can at least see why people would be afraid that their heritage is in jeopardy. Its almost as if European culture should be altered or forgotten much the same way white people doctored other cultures in history books to fit a narrative or just outright dismissed them. Should white people not care about what happens to their own heritage? This has happened to minorities for a long time and the know exactly what its like. Why would they want to do the same things and think it will result in a more inclusive society? And for a lot of these people they see changes and concessions being made and if they have any kind of emotional reaction, question what is happening or even in some cases are just not informed enough, they are vilified and made to be a pariah of our society. It would go a long way toward getting people out of Qanon or deifying Trump or even I'm willing to bet mass shootings if people were less vicious toward one another. We've come a long way in the past decade and that is from whites and minorities working together. Its the only way and yet we cannot talk to one another without vitriol and that fear is not going away without communicating. So many whites who grow up in terrible conditions hooked on opiates living in trailers are looking for someone to blame as well and instead of talking and working with them they are ridiculed, further ostracized and prone to being radicalized. Why does the USA allow such conditions in the first place?

It is also possible that Rachel made this a race thing to make herself feel better. After all she was talking to a close friend privately. It's human nature to find something external to help make sense of a bad situation. It doesn't make her a bad person to have emotions and a human brain. I strongly believe it would be in the best interest of any kind of real progress to not direct all of our frustrations stemming from the terrible state of the world toward the people who got lost in the weeds of all of this. We need to get back to celebrating the flawed humanity in all of us.

 

Not trying to derail into a D&D conversation but one thing briefly.

One issue is that it never dawned on Rachel that Maria might actually just be better than her at the job. It's not that she was black, she was better at that role and ESPN was making a decision to pay her more than Rachel as well based on what's out there.

Rachel as a white person never understood or had it cross her mind and rushed to the idea it was a quota and dismissed it as a diversity hire, which is insulting to Maria and others who have experienced it who got where they were on merit.

It reeked of jealousy and ego and also Rachel contradicts herself by pretty much saying she understands diversity until it affects her.

To Rachel's credit she later understood that, took ownership and apologized. I actually liked Rachel and didn't want to see her canned, but it was a bad look to be honest. So hopefully they also get Maria resigned on a contract and things move forward.