Maria Taylor Felt 'Traumatized' After ESPN Exit, Cried Daily
The NBC host described her departure from ESPN in 2021 as a traumatic experience, admitting she cried every day while covering the Tokyo Olympics.
Maria Taylor, now a prominent host for NBC Sports, has revealed that her exit from ESPN in 2021 was a deeply distressing experience, during which she cried daily. Taylor described her departure as "traumatic" in a recent podcast appearance, detailing the emotional toll it took.
Taylor left ESPN after contract negotiations failed and a controversial incident involving her colleague Rachel Nichols came to light. Nichols was recorded making comments suggesting that Taylor was given increased opportunities, such as covering the 2020 NBA Finals, partly to advance ESPN's diversity initiatives. This recording, leaked to the New York Times, caused significant turmoil within the network.
Following her exit from ESPN, Taylor was quickly hired by NBC, where she covered the Tokyo Olympic Games. Despite this new opportunity, she admitted that the emotional fallout from her ESPN departure continued. "I cried every day in Tokyo," Taylor stated. "There was a healing process that you have to go through after something like that. To me, that was traumatic."
Taylor expressed initial fears that she might never cover basketball again, a sport she loves. "I really thought I was leaving basketball on the table," she said. "And that's the sport I love." Her new role at NBC, however, has allowed her to return to covering basketball, as well as anchoring "Football Night in America" and fronting coverage of NBA and WNBA games. She also hosted the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation during last season's Super Bowl.
The controversy at ESPN stemmed from a recording of Nichols speaking with LeBron James' advisor Adam Mendelsohn. In the conversation, Nichols expressed frustration about being passed over for NBA Finals hosting duties, which went to Taylor. Nichols stated that the assignment was in her contract and questioned if ESPN was assigning her more duties due to "pressure about your c****y longtime record on diversity."
Mendelsohn's subsequent comment about being "exhausted" by "Me Too and Black Lives Matter" further fueled the controversy. The leak of this conversation caused significant backlash within ESPN, with many employees considering protests. Black employees at the network reportedly felt the conversation exposed underlying white attitudes toward diversity.
As a result of the incident, Nichols' show "The Jump" was canceled, and she was removed from all NBA programming in August 2021. Nichols later claimed that someone had spied on her after she inadvertently left recording equipment active. Taylor, meanwhile, has moved on to a successful career at NBC, recently making headlines for correcting former coach Mike Tomlin on air regarding a player's initials.
