Opinion: The Maria Taylor Saga Could Haunt ESPN

Bobby Burack at Outkick.com, relflects on the Maria Taylor Saga at ESPN and writes it is emblematic of the leftist vision for America. (Edited for space limitations..read full article here.)

Maria Taylor

"At some point soon, Maria Taylor’s former bosses at ESPN will sit back and wonder whether they are finally safe. Taylor is gone now. She can’t hurt them anymore, right? Unfortunately, that assumption would be incorrect. Taylor’s entire plan — which ended with her leaking the private conversation of a colleague whom she had already beaten out for a job — was not just a reflection of Taylor’s deviousness but of American culture, now controlled monolithically by the Left. There will be more Maria Taylors. And the next one may actually play their hand well.

"Taylor’s mostly white bosses saw the writing on the wall following George Floyd’s death. They could no longer simply treat people of all colors equally. To stay in power, they had to prove they were not racist, which meant treating employees of certain racial groups better than others.

"Despite ESPN’s long history of promoting and paying black personalities lucrative salaries, the network couldn’t effectively erase the narrative, promoted by users on social media and the New York Times, that it had let go of Jemele Hill, Cari Champion, and Josina Anderson because of their race and gender.

"Not only had they offered her 3x the money, but ESPN had also named Taylor the host of its most valued property, the NBA Finals on ABC. Taylor got the job over veteran NBA host Rachel Nichols, who had the assignment written in her contract. Taylor had a contract offer that trailed only Stephen A. Smith and Mike Greenberg, both of whom are nearly 20 years older than she is.

"Despite all the headaches she gave them, ESPN was willing to make Taylor one of the faces of the network, with a plan to ultimately make her the face of ESPN one day. Taylor responded to all of this by leaking audio of Nichols to portray the employer that had built her up and given her roles she hadn’t earned as misogynistic and racist.

"But here’s where the Leftist path that Taylor attempted to follow goes awry. There’s never an end. There is always another racist dragon to slay, another dissenting voice to silence. So they keep asking for more."