Rachel Nichols has always been known to stand up for what is right in the world. Nichols is one of the best minds in the business, somebody who we can all look to for direction, and somebody we can trust to stand up for what’s right.
Friday afternoon on her show The Jump, Nichols did just that. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst was on the show, and directed a comment her way that was just out of line. It began when Windhorst was asked whether or not he was hurt that LeBron James followed Nichols on Twitter and not him.
@bustedcoverage windy… pic.twitter.com/zQXXrJ54Ju
— … (@Cleveland_4life) June 10, 2016
Windhorst said:
“I don’t care. He’s sliding into Rachel’s DMs.”
Nichols shook her head at the comment, turned to the camera and lifted her hands in the air in reaction to the loaded comment. Nichols appropriately replied:
“That is not true and not something you should say on television. Will you take that back, please?”
Windhorst took back the comment, as he should have. But Nichols made sure she took the final swing, and said:
“This [happened] because Brian doesn’t exactly know what that phrase means. Right? Am I correct in that?”
To which Windhorst agreed.
If you’re curious as to why the comment was offensive, it’s because it’s a way of suggesting that Nichols got to her position as one of the best in the business strictly through her physical appearance, or from promiscuity. It’s not a comment you would ever hear directed towards a male anchor or reporter in a male-dominated major sports culture. To question the integrity of Nichols on the air like that (or at all, for that matter) was extremely inappropriate.
The lesson to be learned here, is that you should never use a word or phrase that you don’t know the meaning of, and you should never, ever, challenge Rachel Nichols. She will make you pay.
