{"id":584899,"date":"2021-07-07T09:51:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T13:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=584899"},"modified":"2021-07-07T09:51:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T13:51:45","slug":"clay-travis-maria-taylor-trying-to-extort-espn-by-inciting-scandal-leaking-rachel-nichols-audio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clay-travis-maria-taylor-trying-to-extort-espn-by-inciting-scandal-leaking-rachel-nichols-audio\/","title":{"rendered":"Clay Travis: Maria Taylor \u2018Trying To Extort ESPN\u2019 By Inciting Scandal, Leaking Rachel Nichols Audio"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclay-travis-maria-taylor-trying-to-extort-espn-by-inciting-scandal-leaking-rachel-nichols-audio%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=584899&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Maria-Taylor.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Radio host Clay Travis posited Tuesday that ESPN reporter Maria Taylor is behind the recent leak of one of her colleague\u2019s comments that plunged the network into racial controversy.<\/p>\n<p>A recently leaked recording showed ESPN host Rachel Nichols, who is white, slamming the sports network for allegedly pulling an offer for her to host the 2020 NBA Finals and giving it to Taylor, who is black. Nichols said that the network replaced her with Taylor to show \u201cdiversity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The recording was of a conversation between Nichols and LeBron James PR advisor Adam Mendelsohn caught on a hot mic in July of last year. Travis said that the recording\u2019s release conspicuously coincides with Taylor\u2019s negotiations with ESPN for a new contract. That and other factors suggests that Taylor is behind the leak, according to the radio host.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaria Taylor\u2019s contract is up in a couple of weeks,\u201d Clay stated, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/clay-clearly-maria-taylor-leaked-rachel-nichols-story-to-land-bigger-deal\/\">Outkick<\/a>. \u201cIf you want to know how a story like this actually ends up occurring, it is because Maria Taylor decided to have her people leak this story. She\u2019s the only one who benefits, she\u2019s the only one not quoted directly in the story. She is trying to extort ESPN into paying her a massive salary increase, which she does not otherwise deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the leaked audio, Nichols <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/leaked-audio-espns-rachel-nichols-suggests-she-was-passed-over-for-being-white\">ripped<\/a> ESPN for allegedly snubbing her and giving the promised job to Taylor for \u201cdiversity reasons.\u201d Nichols did not fault Taylor for the situation, but blamed ESPN for the controversy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world \u2014 she covers football, she covers basketball,\u201d Nichols told Mendelsohn at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity \u2014 which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it \u2014 like, go for it,\u201d she said. \u201cJust find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the recording leaked, Nichols attempted to apologize to Taylor through texts and phone calls, none of which her colleague responded to.<\/p>\n<p>Nichols was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/espns-rachel-nichols-taken-off-of-sideline-reporting-duties-following-diversity-video-leak\">pulled<\/a> from sideline reporting duties for the NBA Finals after the video leak. Her ESPN show \u201cThe Jump\u201d was also canceled for a day but she is expected to return to the show Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe this is the best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals,\u201d ESPN said in a statement on the decision to pull Nichols off the sideline of the NBA Finals. \u201cRachel will continue to host The Jump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nichols received support from former NBA player and activist Stephen Jackson after the leaked audio broke. Jackson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/ex-nba-player-star-stephen-jackson-rips-espn-for-allegedly-snubbing-white-reporter-yall-are-some-suckers\">said<\/a> he understood Nichols\u2019 frustration and also blamed ESPN for trying \u201cto make themselves look good\u201d by replacing Nichols with Taylor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were trying to make themselves look good because all the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd stuff was going on,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cSo 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, that she deserved, and give it to Maria just to make themselves look good. ESPN, ya\u2019ll are some suckers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Radio host Clay Travis posited Tuesday that ESPN reporter Maria Taylor is behind the recent leak of one of her colleague\u2019s comments that plunged the network into racial controversy.A recently &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2314142,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Maria-Taylor.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Clay Travis: Maria Taylor \u2018Trying To Extort ESPN\u2019 By Inciting Scandal, Leaking Rachel Nichols Audio","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-584899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Maria-Taylor.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Clay Travis: Maria Taylor \u2018Trying To Extort ESPN\u2019 By Inciting Scandal, Leaking Rachel Nichols Audio","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}