Stephen Jackson deleted a video saying “F**k ESPN” and blamed the network for creating the racist drama between its top female anchors, Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor.
A leaked phone call between Nichols and Adam Mendelsohn, an adviser to LeBron James, sparked outrage on social media.
Nichols forgot a video camera was still recording in her hotel room when she complained to Mendelsohn about ESPN giving Taylor the 2020 NBA Finals hosting gig.
Nichols suggested that ESPN favored Taylor because of the color of Taylor’s skin and ESPN’s “crappy” history on diversity.
“I just want them to go somewhere else — it’s in my contract, by the way; this job is in my contract in writing,” Nichols told Mendelsohn.
Jackson, a retired NBA star, defended Nichols on social media after speaking with her by phone.
He initially posted a video saying “F**k ESPN” and called himself “Team Maria.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vvJt6f9p8U
Jackson deleted the video and shared another video in which he defended Nichols. He said ESPN gave Taylor a “sympathy job” due to the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd.
“We all ramble and we say things when we’re frustrated, and Rachel did deserve that job, it’s just plain and simple, I’ve talked to Rachel and I know a lot of things she was saying out of frustrations because ESPN put her in a bad position and they even put Maria in a bad position by trying to give Maria a sympathy job, they were trying to make themselves look good because of the Black lives Matter and the George Floyd stuff was going on. So ESPN tried to make themselves look good by taking the job from Rachel that she had already had – that they already told her she had… ESPN is behind all this. It’s all they fault… ESPN, y’all some suckers!”
