Former ESPN Employee Has Called Out Adrian Wojnarowski For Racist Antics

It has been a difficult week for ESPN. First, The New York Times released a tape of Rachel Nichols calling out the network for giving Maria Taylor NBA Finals assignments for political purposes. Now, top NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski is being called out.

On Tuesday, Amin Elhassan went on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” and called out Wojnarowski for “stepping on” black ESPN reporters.

“Are you [expletives] me? This guy is going to call someone a bad teammate? For real? For real? Do we want to talk about the black careers that he put a foot on because he was threatened by? Do we want to talk about that? Do you wanna talk about the newsbreakers – with an ’S’ – of diverse background, who have rapports with players that Adrian doesn’t have. That he saw as threatening because his sources are all front office people… and assistant coaches trying to move up… and maybe a video coordinator that’s trying to get a better job somewhere else,” Elhassan said.

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“But he can’t talk to LeBron. And he can’t talk to Chris Paul or Damian Lillard or some of these other guys. He doesn’t have that rapport with them. So what he does is he steps on them. And beyond that particular angle, he steps on a lot of people over there. He steps on a lot of people over there. Right? When you see a byline that says ‘as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski and fill-in-the-blank.’ That’s the old, ‘yeah, put my name on it and put it out there.’”

Elhassan made his comment about Wojnarowski at the 41st minute of the clip.

While Adrian Wojnarowski will likely not speak on these allegations, Rachel Nichols sent out a loose apology on Tuesday morning.

“The first thing they teach you in journalism school is ‘Don’t be the story,’ and I don’t plan to break that rule today or distract from the (NBA) Finals,” Nichols said. “But I also don’t want to let this moment pass without saying how much I respect, how much I value our colleagues here at ESPN, [and] how deeply, deeply sorry I am for disappointing those I hurt, particularly Maria Taylor, and for how grateful I am to be part of this outstanding team.”

We’ll see if any more ESPN employees come out to share the belief that Adrian Wojnarowski takes opportunities away from diverse journalists.


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