ESPN’s Rachel Nichols Diversity Kerfuffle

CLAY: One of the big stories, Buck, has been all about “diversity” and “inclusion,” over the past several years, and I want to play a couple of clips. This was a feature story in the New York Times. Let me give you a little bit of a background here. We have reached the NBA Finals. I know a lot of you are not watching the NBA in particular, because the political nature of the league.

And by the way, you have millions and millions of compatriots. The NBA Finals this year may be the least watched of most of our lives. Last year was the least watched. So regardless, we’re going to have the two least viewed NBA Finals in any of our lives before all is said and done. But there is a flare-up — a “kerfuffle,” as you described it, Buck Sexton — inside of ESPN.

Rachel Nichols, red-haired reporter for ESPN — to describe her for some of you who may be familiar with her. She was the host of the NBA Finals Show, which airs on ESPN and ABC. Last year, in the bubble, in the midst of Black Lives Matter and all that jazz — the political nature of the NBA — they replaced Rachel Nichols with Maria Taylor, a black woman.

Rachel Nichols — despite being super woke and the kind of person that lectured all of us about the North Carolina transgender bathroom bill and why it was fantastic, that the NBA pulled their all-star game out of Charlotte. Which, by the way, set in motion, Buck Sexton, what happened in Atlanta, when Major League Baseball followed their lead and pulled the All-Star Game and put it in Colorado.

She was all fine and dandy and woke, and hated Trump supporters, and everything was hunky-dory in her world — until, suddenly, she was replaced by a black woman. She was quarantining at the time inside of the NBA bubble. She thought she had turned her camera off, Buck Sexton.

Unfortunately, for her, she was having a conversation with one of LeBron James’ top advisers, and this entire conversation was recorded and now was distributed and the New York Times did an entire feature piece on this yesterday. Here is some of that audio. Play cut one.

NICHOLS: So they said to me, “Hey, instead of hosting the NBA Finals, why don’t you do Doris’ sideline reporter job for the NBA Finals?” ’cause guess what that would clear the way for?

MENDELSOHN: For her to do it full time.

NICHOLS: For Maria to do the hosting full time.

MENDELSOHN: Yeah.

NICHOLS: So I have declined. I don’t know what their next move is, but they’re feeling pressure because of all of that. And I’m trying to figure out, like, how to just, you know… My thing is that I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world. She covers football. She covers basketball.

If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your, like, crappy, longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I myself, like, know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it. Just, you know, find it somewhere else. Like, you are not going to find it from me and taking my thing away.

BUCK: I just need to —

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: Hold on, hold on, ho-ho-hold on.

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: I hadn’t heard the audio until just now. I read the story. I want to do a real-time reaction. I cannot believe — although I can, and we’ll talk about why, because I understand the reasons. But no person would hear that and say, “Oh, my gosh!” In fact, that she was speaking of private conversation, and that’s that…

To me, you should be able to say what she said in an HR meeting in any Fortune 500 company in America and not get in trouble. We know that’s not true, but I’m just saying. Was there not a…? Wasn’t the whole point of what we saw with the BLM movement and the protests and the riots, lots and lots of riots…?

CLAY: Mostly peaceful protests.

BUCK: Yeah, “mostly peaceful,” when things are burning down and cops are getting hit in the face with bricks. Wasn’t it to get corporations in all of America to do more for communities of color? Wasn’t the whole point of this to pressure everyone, including the NBA, including every major corporation? But you see, whether it’s this issue or it’s affirmative action as a function of law, there are people who want the policy, but then insist on us not discussing the reality.

You cannot say, “We want more diversity and inclusion,” and then, comma, say, “But you’re not allowed to say that somebody may have benefited from a diversity-and-inclusion initiative or that people in general from certain groups and backgrounds, may be benefiting from that,” because that’s a mandate to not discuss the very reality of what you are demanding.

CLAY: All right. Now, Buck, you love that, all right? I want you to hear this other clip. So the person that she is talking to is one of LeBron James’ top advisers. This is super incestuous, right? Because she covers the NBA, and you can’t really cover the NBA very fairly when your first thought when you lose something is to call this guy and strategize with him. So I want you to also hear this cut, also from their conversation.

This guy, LeBron James’ adviser, is the one who founded his get-out-and-vote campaign and tried to get felons the right to vote. You have to listen carefully. But he says, “I’m so all over all this BLM and #MeToo stuff,” and Rachel Nichols laughs — which is evidence of how much BS there is, even of guys pretending to be super woke. It’s all a show. It’s all a sham. I want you to listen to his advice to her, and also tell me you aren’t rolling your eyes when he’s out there beating the drum on BLM and #Me Too, when he’s like, “I’m so over this BLM and #MeToo.”

MENDELSOHN: You could frame it all… Like, really, you could actually generate a really interesting conversation about how it’s, you know, just so very white male —

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm.

MENDELSOHN: — for them to turn two women —

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm.

MENDELSOHN: on each other —

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm!

MENDELSOHN: — to compete over the one spot that they’re dangling over them.

NICHOLS: Right!

MENDELSOHN: Which is a broader conversation about all the spots that should be under consideration.

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm. There isn’t just one seat at the table for a minority of whichever version this week we’re trying to please.

MENDELSOHN: If you think about it, this is precisely the problem we’ve been talking about for a long time —

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm.

MENDELSOHN: — which is white men.

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm.

MENDELSOHN: It’s an example of bringing one black person into the boardroom.

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm.

MENDELSOHN: You don’t get to have a black woman in a prominent slot and feel like, “Okay, the whole work is done.”

NICHOLS: We’re done!

MENDELSOHN: And you certainly don’t get to say, “Okay, we have a white woman –”

NICHOLS: Mmm-hmm!

MENDELSOHN: “– in a critical seat –”

NICHOLS: Yeah.

MENDELSOHN: “– and now that we’re going to put a black woman in that same seat.” The question is, “What are the other seats the white males are in?”

NICHOLS: Yep.

MENDELSOHN: That should be under consideration.

BUCK: Now, I thought some of it was hard to make out.

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: So, Clay, if I missed anything, let me know. So to be very clear, what you said right before this sound bite was made, that we’re seeing a couple things here. One is that you’re not allowed… There can be demands for diversity, but you cannot speak about how that means there will be people who are getting an advantage in the job market or further consideration. It has to be kept very general. That’s one part of it. Right?

CLAY: Yeah.

BUCK: That’s why I said, “It’s true affirmative action as well.” If you show up at a college campus and you say, “I love all the diversity here,” and they say, “That’s great,” and then you say, “Okay, are they changing standards, based on SATs and grades?” all of a sudden, everybody gets tense. You’re not allowed to talk about that. Okay.,

It seems that we have here are people who… You know these folks, as well as I know, in terms of their politics. I’m assuming, they’re left of center, or at least they present left of center on this issue. What we have, once again, is they heard certain beliefs out in public that will be advantageous, and that’s effectively.” You could call it “corporate virtue signaling,” right? It’s good for the corporation. But behind closed doors, they think a lot of this is nonsense, BS too. Am I missing something?

CLAY: No. And I’m curious what people think out there listening, because there’s obviously sports fans listening. To me, this is at the essence, Buck, what you’re nailing here. This is about diversity and inclusion. People oftentimes, in the woke media (“allies” as they’re called) are all in favor of the idea of having diversity and inclusion, until suddenly it impacts them. It’s the not in my backyard phenomena. Right? Rachel Nichols is like, “Hey, you feel you have an issue with diversity? That’s fine. I’m in favor with it. But you’re not taking my thing away!”

BUCK: Yeah. She’s saying, “Fire a bunch of associate writers for the website, and fill that with diversity inclusion. Don’t take my spot as the reporter,” right?

CLAY: Yeah. And she also says, Buck, “those the same people,” meaning those people trying to take her job away, “who are, like, generally white, conservative, male Trump voters is part of the reason I’ve had a hard time at ESPN.” Rachel Nichols, direct quote.

BUCK: Wait. Wait. Hold on. (chuckles) Who are the white…? I know something about white conservative Donald Trump voters here, Clay. Who are the people at ESPN who are making these decisions, who are white, male, conservative Trump voters?

CLAY: Zero. This is the thing, Buck, I’m the only person in all of sports media, at the time, in 2020, who said, “Hey, I’m voting for Donald Trump.” People think that the political media is left-wing biased? The sports media, like, it’s literally the entire universe — at least publicly — and me, and maybe your buddy Will Cain. There’s almost nobody who would say, “Hey, you know, maybe the sports media, the sports, which is a meritocracy…”

BUCK: What about @Stoolpresidente?

CLAY: Yeah. I think Portnoy may have voted for Trump. I’m not sure if he publicly endorsed a candidate. But the fact that you can pull out, like, three people in all of sports, and be like, “Hey, these guys were the ones who voted for Donald Trump”? Like, it’s crazy.

BUCK: I got nothing after that, by the way. That was the one name that came to mind other than you two.

CLAY: The only person that publicly worked for Fox, CNN, or NBC on daily television who said, “I’m voting for Donald Trump,” was me. So what I think is interesting about this in a big, large-scale discussion is — to your point, Buck — people like things in theory. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, they don’t want to actually talk about the particulars here.

And to me, Rachel Nichols is a perfect example of this. She’s a huge liberal, when it doesn’t impact her life. But as soon as it impacts her life, he’s like, “Oh, wait. What’s with this diversity and inclusion BS?”

BUCK: I got news for anybody who doesn’t already know this — which I think is no one who’s listening to us right now — this is what all the libs say behind closed doors.

CLAY: Ohhh, amen!

BUCK: All of a sudden, they sound a lot more like conservatives when it’s what’s going on as it effects their job, their tax rate, their neighborhood, their security, all these things. They have a very different tune than what they say for the wokeness in public.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

BUCK: I believe sometimes politics can create strange bedfellows. Rachel Nichols was defended by Stephen Jackson, who does a podcast called All the Smoke with iHeart. He came out and said this, after there was the controversy that has blown up in such a big way, over Rachel Nichols and ESPN. Here is Stephen Jackson. Play that cut.

JACKSON: How many times we as black people have said that we was qualified. We know we qualified. We know we qualified for the job, but we didn’t get it because they gave it to the white person just ’cause he was white. How mad were we, because they lookin’ out for they own? How mad were we when you know you deserve the job, and they give it to a white person, just because he’s white?

We’ve been dealing with that our whole life, and that pisses us off. We ain’t getting recorded. But we say sh(bleep)t too, behind closed doors. So I get it. I get it why Rachel mad. Rachel ain’t never showed me no signs of being racist. But I would be mad too, if I worked my whole life for a job, and they’re going to give it to a white dude, just ’cause Donald Trump in office or just ’cause a white kid got killed and, at the time, it’d look better for a white person to have the job. I would be mad too! It’s just the facts. I ain’t trying to be like… I’m speaking the truth. We’re walking with both of them — Maria and Rachel — but this is the truth.

BUCK: All right, Clay.