Ex-ESPN host reveals she 'cried every day' after colleague's leaked phone call sparked her 'traumatic' exit from the network

NBC star Maria Taylor has admitted she 'cried every day' following her departure from ESPN, describing the experience as 'traumatic.'

Taylor left in 2021 when talks over a new contract broke down and she was instantly snapped up by NBC, who quickly flew her to Tokyo to cover the Olympic Games.

It came after her former ESPN colleague Rachel Nichols was recorded saying she believed Taylor took over coverage of the NBA Finals in 2020 so that the network could promote diversity. 

Now Taylor is the host of NBC's Football Night in America flagship NFL program and also fronts the network's recently-acquired slate of NBA and WNBA games. She also hosted the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation during last season's Super Bowl.

But, on a recently-recorded podcast, Taylor admitted she broke down while working in the Japanese capital following her acrimonious exit from ESPN that was shrouded in controversy.

'When I left, I really thought I was leaving basketball on the table. And that's the sport I love,' Taylor told host Ashley Nicole Moss on Complex Bets Presents: In Motion.

'I cried every day in Tokyo. There was a healing process that you have to go through after something like that. To me, that was traumatic.

'I get why you have to walk through fire sometimes. It just happens. And it feels so much better now. I feel looser, I feel freer, I feel more confident in everything I do.

'I just really thought I was never going to cover it (basketball) again unless it was Team USA.

'Then to flash forward now and we're five years into this and I have an opportunity to be back in the league, that's what I was working toward. And I had reached it and I lost it.'

Nichols' conversation at the center of the incident, first revealed by the New York Times, was recorded by an unknown party during the 2020 NBA season restart.

It took place at the league’s COVID 'bubble' hotel in Florida when Nichols was apparently unaware a camera in her hotel room was still attached to a live microphone following a satellite broadcast.

Nichols was on the phone to LeBron James' long-time advisor Adam Mendelsohn when she expressed annoyance at being passed over for hosting the NBA finals. She was in a hotel room but appeared to have mistakenly left her camera on – and the footage was broadcast back to ESPN's headquarters.

Nichols called Mendelsohn on July 13, 2020 to ask for an interview with James and another Lakers player, Anthony Davis, who is another client of James' agent, Rich Paul. Mendelsohn also is an advisor to Paul.

During the call, Nichols asked Mendelsohn for advice about how to handle the situation at ESPN, and her being denied the assignment that went to Taylor.

'I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world - she covers football, she covers basketball,' Nichols said.

'If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your c****y longtime record on diversity - which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it - like, go for it.

'Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.'

She also noted that the assignment to host NBA finals coverage 'is in my contract in writing,' the newspaper reported.

After Nichols said she planned to await ESPN's next move, Mendelsohn paused, and then said: 'I don't know. I'm exhausted. Between Me Too and Black Lives Matter, I got nothing left.'

Mendelsohn later told CNBC: 'I made a stupid, careless comment rooted in privilege and I am sincerely sorry. I shouldn't have said it or even thought it.'

When a recording of the call leaked and started to circulate among ESPN employees, it prompted a crisis with several of the network's top talent contemplating a refusal to appear on the air in protest.

It also caused anger among black employees at the network who felt that the secretly recorded conversation was a more accurate reflection of white attitudes about diversity.

Nichols' show, The Jump, was later cancelled and she was subsequently removed from all NBA programming in August 2021, ending her career at the network.

In October 2022, Nichols claimed 'at least one person' decided to spy on her after she left new recording equipment on.

She explained on Showtime's 'All The Smoke' podcast, hosted by former NBAers Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, that she was using new equipment and did not know she hadn't turned off the line connecting her to ESPN's Bristol headquarters.

'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.

'When they heard something they thought was juicy they picked up their phone and started recording my conversation.'

Nichols told The New York Times that she tried to contact Taylor through phone calls and text messages to offer an apology.

'Maria has chosen not to respond to these offers, which is completely fair and a decision I respect,' Nichols said.

Taylor started the new NFL season in Seattle last week as the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks beat the New England Patriots.

She found herself having to correct legendary former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, however. 

Often shortened to his initials JSN, Tomlin incorrectly called Seahawks star Jaxon Smith-Njigba 'JNS' which led to a pile on from NBC viewers. 

JSN, I'm not going to let you do it again,' Taylor said to Tomlin.

'I'm not going to let you do it again. JSN. You said JNS. This is the thing. Coaches are always talking numbers. They're not having to say names all the time. I've got you coach.'

Taylor, Tomlin, former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and three-time Super Bowl champion Devin McCourty were then reunited just days later.

The NBC crew were in their regular primetime 'Sunday Night Football' slot for the New York Giants' impressive 28-20 win over the Cowboys.