For years, the level-headed individuals on the Right have been predicting that the wave of “wokeness” will inevitably eat their own. Every move made, every statement uttered, every small human error will be analyzed throughout the history of time until everyone has been canceled and we’re made to build back from the ashes. No one will be spared from the long tentacles of the politically correct woke mob.
That prophecy is being fulfilled in real-time.
On Wednesday, ESPN — a network as woke as they come — canceled one of their own. Rachel Nichols — arguably ESPN’s most well-known NBA reporter and television host — was removed from all NBA programming and her show of five years, “The Jump,” was canceled.
While Nichols still has over a year left on her contract with ESPN, she has essentially been fired for the grave sin of expressing her emotions over losing a job she claims was written in her contract. Her frustrations were expressed in a private conversation with a friend that was inadvertently recorded to a camera and sent back to ESPN headquarters.
The nature of the recording in of itself should have stopped the story in its tracks, but ESPN brass is littered with nothing but cowardly men whose greatest fear is offending any of their “oppressed” employees.
For those who still need a little more information before delivering your judgment, I’m going to lay it out for you.
In July 2020, Nichols was in the Orlando bubble — created so that the NBA Playoffs could be played due to the pandemic — and in her hotel room when a conversation between her and longtime LeBron James advisor Adam Mendelsohn was recorded to a camera she had unknowingly left on. In the conversation, Nichols complained to Mendelsohn that she had been passed over for a job — a job that Nichols claimed was in her contract — due to ESPN’s “ crappy longtime record on diversity.” ESPN reporter and host Maria Taylor — who is black — was given the assignment of hosting ESPN’s pregame and postgame shows for the NBA Finals.
The conversation was sent to a server at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut where one ESPN employee recorded it to a cell phone and shared it with others.
A year after the conversation, The New York Times published an article detailing the conversation between Nichols and Mendelsohn and the fallout that occurred at the company due to what was said in the recording.
Among other things, Taylor refused to work with Nichols, at one point telling ESPN brass that she would not finish covering the season before relenting under one condition — she did not want Nichols appearing on her show “NBA Countdown.”
All of this led to Nichols being forced to issue a groveling apology on the air, losing her sideline duties for the 2021 NBA Finals, and having an episode of her show “The Jump” canceled. Now, Nichols not only does not have her show, but she’s also basically out of job.
ESPN — and their partner in the NBA — have made it clear over the past several years that they align themselves with the Left, siding with Black Lives Matter and allowing their personalities to bash former President Donald Trump.
Nichols has happily played along, at one point urging the NBA to move its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte due to North Carolina’s “Bathroom Bill” which said that people had to use the bathroom of their sex.
“There’s nothing like the threat of losing a sporting event that moves politicians to reconsider … I would strongly urge the NBA to follow through on this if this bill isn’t scrapped,” Nichols said. “Discrimination is discrimination.”
No matter how many times Nichols walked to beat of the woke drum, she eventually would be taken down as her status — a woman in sports — became lower and lower on the rung that is the ladder of the oppressed.
“Even as the NBA’s overall ratings collapsed, Rachel Nichols made the decision to defend the NBA and all of the woke idiocy that that league embraced. In fact, she lectured America on how great the NBA was when they pulled their All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina over a bathroom bill that was alleged to target transgender individuals,” founder of Outkick Clay Travis said. “Even while the NBA continued to play basketball all around the world in countries such as China, which have a repressive human rights regime. …”
Sorry, Rachel. This was always going to be the end result.
In the wise words of Travis, “The lesson is clear: you’re either woke or you’re fired. You better keep your mouth shut unless you agree with far left-wing politics infiltrating sports.”
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.