Rachel Nichols ESPN

Former ESPN host Rachel Nichols announced on Friday that she is partnering with Showtime Basketball in a multi-platform role.

I've done everything that I've been asked, and I wanted the chance to do it. I wanted the chance to do it." I felt like I worked so long - decades - for this job.

Is staying woke the right way to approach journalism? Rachel Nichols' tell all on All The Smoke Podcast shines a light on ESPN's bad decisions.

Not discrediting Malika Andrews but Rachel Nichols was a journalist of far better caliber. Her comments on Udoka were misleading and rather dangerous. We take a closer look at the carousel of female reporters that have gone in and out of ESPN. And Nichols got her job because Sage Steele wasn’t woke enough. The wildest thing about this is Andrews got her job because Rachel Nichols wasn’t woke enough. Her comments against women of color, namely Malika Andrews and Maria Taylor were seen as an attempt to disparage and take away their hard work.

The NBA reporter left the network last year over controversial comments regarding Taylor and ESPN's diversity history.

“I have fought through a lot of things in this business to get to where I am,” she said. She also criticized ESPN’s handling of trying to promote diversity in the way that they did, saying that they wouldn’t ask Rece Davis to move off of College GameDay hosting duties to become a college football sideline reporter. Nichols says that the NBA Finals hosting role was included in her contract with the company. “At least one person decided to just sit and watch, and started spying on me like I was their own personal TV show,” she said. [All The Smoke show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AgzjB2LsUA) with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, Nichols explained her side of the story. Nichols had been reassigned to sideline reporter in favor of Maria Taylor as NBA Finals host in 2020.

For the first time since leaving ESPN, Rachel Nichols has spoken publicly to tell her side of the story on her controversial exit.

Nichols said that in 2019, she was given a contract that included hosting the NBA Finals. “She’s a fellow woman in the business. “I thought we had put some things behind us and unfortunately there were still some people who had bad feelings and held on to this tape for a year,” Nichols said, saying the tape was investigated by HR and she wasn’t disciplined.

While Nichols' interview doesn't necessarily get her off the hook, it lends more perspective to the scandal.

“Rachel brings unmatched journalistic credibility, a great familiarity with our roster, and a work ethic that will take us to another level.” There were a lot of difficult conversations with this country looking itself in the face and seeing what had to change, what had to be different. And The New York Times did an expose in July of 2020 on racism at ESPN and the lack of opportunities for people of color. And the executives at ESPN said I think, about what people would expect, ‘We’d like to give people more opportunities, we’re continuing to grow,’ all of those things.” Nichols was fired by the sports network last summer after a leaked recording of her making insensitive comments about her colleague Maria Taylor surfaced online. The app recorded and saw everything she did.

The ex-ESPN sportscaster says the infamous recording that lead to her firing resulted from her being spied on in her hotel room for hours with no one ...

“At least one person decided to just sit and watch and started spying on me like I was their own personal television show,” she said, including recording her phone conversations. “No one shut it off, decided, Oh, she clearly doesn’t know she’s being watched, unpacking or doing all these other things.” and helpful; men are aggressive sharks and all of that.” [Showtime](https://www.sho.com/sports/podcasts/all-the-smoke), via [Ballislife on Twitter.](https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/1576007137415041026) [step aside](https://www.mediaite.com/sports/espns-rachel-nichols-apologizes-for-implying-maria-taylor-was-given-nba-finals-gig-because-shes-black-in-leaked-video/) on hosting the NBA finals. [](https://www.mediaite.com/sports/rachel-nichols-says-she-was-spied-on-in-her-hotel-room-for-hours-by-at-least-one-espn-colleague/#disqus_thread)

The former host of ESPN's 'The Jump' says she has her 'most broad playing field yet' at Showtime Sports.

[comments she made about former ESPN colleague Maria Taylor](https://www.tvinsider.com/1004655/rachel-nichols-apologizes-to-maria-taylor-hot-mic-comment/). [Rachel Nichols](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/rachel-nichols/) is off the sidelines. “I thought we had put things behind us, and unfortunately there were still some people who had bad feelings and held on to this tape for a year,” Nichols said on the podcast. “Rachel brings unmatched journalistic credibility, great familiarity with our roster and a work ethic that will take us to another level.” Following the New York Times report, ESPN [took Nichols off its 2021 NBA Finals coverage](https://www.tvinsider.com/1010857/rachel-nichols-removed-espn-nba-coverage-jump-canceled/)and canceled her show The Jump. “They’ve asked me to produce, create, and host new sports programming across platforms, working alongside Hall of Famers, multiple guys with championship rings, and an uber-creative team behind the camera.