[NYT] A Disparaging Video Prompts Explosive Fallout Within ESPN

lmao wtf
i hope that's a copypasta

 

So much to unpack here, I almost don't where to start. This video is an example of what people do when discussing a topic emotionally--they use popular buzzwords (like white privilege, generational talent, and token) and twist and exaggerate the facts to paint the other side in a bad light. Nichols never said Taylor was a "token" hire. And Taylor is a generational talent?? Please. She's good but is she on the level of Oprah and Barbara Walters? By making weak arguments like this, people like this Tik Tok poster hurt their own cause because not only are they not persuading anyone on the opposite side to adopt their view, they cause their own side to lose credibility. Bringing up whether Nichols is a good or bad host/reporter is a childish and feeble attempt to change the subject.

People can differ on the issue of affirmative action but if you support affirmative action, you have to accept that people are going to logically wonder how much affirmative action played a role whenever a minority is hired/selected/accepted. As I've seen in multiple instances in highly competitive situations, even minorities will wonder if another minority was hired/selected/accepted over a non-minority.

I am a bit heartened by the number of reasonable opinions posted by @futilman, @JW86, @BigM, @malakas, @jiggyfly and others. What's ironic about this brouhaha is that all of this racial stuff is going to overshadow the question of who's the better host. I personally think Maria is better because of her personality, voice, knowledge, youth, and higher attractiveness, and Rachel is too annoying.

 

The correct take.

 

ESPN has botched the way sports are covered in every sport. I hope they get all that backlash they want and then some more.

 

If Taylor was a better talent, then why did ESPN originally give the contract to Nichols? Does ESPN violating their contract sound justified to you?

 

This is what happens when diversity isn't naturally cultivated and forced a.k.a affirmative action - you're only seeing a microscopic level event here and yet it's making prime time headlines in a "gotcha" type way.

So many people are forced into affirmative action as to fear for their jobs, livelihoods and backlash that you don't know or see their true feelings.

Is it really surprising to anyone that Rachel's trying to look after her own back? In my opinion, there are very few allies of diversity that don't stand to gain from it at all. Those are the real MVPs.

 

Something to add context is that Mariah Rose is Jalen Rose's daughter, the same racist Jalen Rose who said Kevin Love didn't deserve to be on Team USA. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, it seems.

 

You gotta look at the context. ESPN was feeling pressure about diversity. Just read this NYT article from last year which was printed the same week Deadspin wrote its initial article on the story. The NYT article 'ESPN Employees Say Racism Endures Behind the Camera' came out on Monday that week. The video producer Kayla Johnson allegedly leaks the tape to Deadspin on a Tuesday. Deadspin reports on the leak that Wednesday.

So Rachel was right when she said that ESPN was feeling pressure about their crappy record on diversity. She was venting, in a private conversation to a mentor, because she thought she was being asked to sacrifice for the mistakes made by ESPN. People are missing the point that Rachel's comments were about ESPN - not Maria. She never said that Maria was unqualified or that diversity was the only factor why ESPN was pushing her. I don't think Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins would've done today's show with her if they felt she was racist. It's really disgusting and appalling that people want to cancel her over this. They want to act like the Rachel Nichols tape is like the Donald Sterling tape but this is far from it.

 

I'm still trying to find the video everyone talking about her being racist, cant find it. I saw one where she talked about ESPN's diversity hire but cant find what she is in trouble for....

 

NYT article mentioned some things worth pointing out:

• Black colleagues were quick to grumble over who she vented to, since that guy has clout in which reporter/personality lands certain interviews with stars like LeBron.
• These leaks came at a point where Maria and ESPN were likely not able to reach an agreement to her contract negotiations. I'm not totally sure who benefits from the move, seems like it's a matter over who is hurt the least...
• ESPN's headquarters located in Connecticut a big reason why their culture sucks and is out of touch.

Rachel isn't evil. All three parties seem to have dirt in some form or another.

 

I agree ESPN needed to improve diversity and representation, the thing is others like Maria are qualifed on merit who weren't being given those opportunities. So give the job to those who are qualified even if they just happen to be black, which is what Maria was.

As for the contract, as mentioned before Rachel likely may have had options in her contract for ESPN to reassign her, that is only her side of the story in what may have been an emotional comment. We don't know the inner workings of her contract, but most employers have freedom to make changes.

ESPN isn't going to comment or make public the inner workings of a contact, see the NYT article below:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/04/sports/basketball/espn-rachel-nichols-maria-taylor.html

Later on in the article Mendelshon (who is not ESPN and was part of the situation as a disclaimer) says Maria got there on merit despite what Rachel was venting about, so she was good enough for the job on merit but ESPN needed to change to offer opportunities, take it as you will.

Also in that second article it describes the lack of diversity of POC who are qualified and have the merit, but weren't given opportunities. Again, they were good enough or better on merit but weren't being given as many high level job opportunities such as executives and had to have much more experience that their white counterparts. Here are snippets

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/sports/espn-racism-black-employees.html

But we can agree to disagree guys, I'm calling it a night. To each thier own.

 

Or maybe she considered that and simply disagreed.

 

van pelt i would say yes. i rarely watch sportscenter any more, but the one thing that will get me to stay on espn after a game is if SVP is doing sportscenter. he's basically the best of what sportscasters should be.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think he does good enough as in solid. He is confident gets the job done, but most of the dad jokes and empty lines just don't do much for me. IF someone else was doing it or replace him with broadcasters from any team, I wouldn't notice much difference, especially given hes probably makng 5 million plus with them under a million locally. I don't know what pelt does uniquely. I guess he has recognition, but thats that. All in all, with all this drama they have, I don't think fans would care much if it was on to the next one

 

LOL JImmy Butler is trending on Twitter for Rachel Nichols reasons

This is wild. First the Ersan Ilyasova rumour and now Jimmy...



Never forget

 

First world tv anchor problems

 

The problem is, you can't naturally cultivate diversity. That's the entire reason affirmative action exists in the first place. A balance must be struck between pereto optimally run workplaces and equality. If you take someone in a job for ANY reason other than productivity, you are increasing the later at the expense of the former.

The main problem with all affirmative action debates is that people believe it will actually increase economic output. It does not by definition. The thing is, that's okay. Equality is still important.

 

This is a good, thoughtful post. We should also keep in mind that if the situation was reversed, no one would be blaming Taylor if she privately complained to a friend that she felt she was being pushed out for reasons that don’t strictly have to do with merit. Do we really think that if Nichols lost her position to another white person that she would just be fine with that? No, she’d probably think there’s something else going on. In this case, the other person was black and she (reasonably) thought shuffling in the broadcast lineup had something to do with the push nation wide for companies to be more diverse (or at least appear so). I see nothing racist or offensive in thinking that.

 

nothing rachel said was racist.. twitter in general just looks for any reason to **** on black men and white women.. notice they are not saying anything about the adam guy she was talking too. Black women and white men are a protected class on social media

white male liberals and black women run twitter, and they wont hesitate to try and label black men as being obsessed with white women, and white women as karens. But if you call ratchet black chicks "keisha's" then you risk losing your twitter account