Joy Taylor doesn’t seem to have many allies in sports media these days — or at least, that’s how it appears.
Currently embroiled in a scandal and legal battle involving Fox Sports, the Speak host has faced intense backlash after a report by Front Office Sports revealed her involvement as a defendant in a high-profile lawsuit filed by a former Fox Sports hairstylist.
In addition to Taylor being accused of making racially insensitive remarks toward the plaintiff, the lawsuit also alleges she had inappropriate relationships with both a Fox Sports executive and an on-air colleague during her time at the network, implying she used these relationships to get ahead in her career.
Taylor has since returned to Speak without addressing the allegations, seemingly opting to power through the controversy — for now, at least. The only public acknowledgment of the situation has come from Fox Sports, which issued a statement to Front Office Sports: “We take these allegations seriously and have no further comment at this time given this pending litigation.”
As the backlash mounts, only a few voices in sports media have stepped up to defend her. Among them are Cam Newton and Stephen A. Smith. The former Carolina Panthers quarterback used the controversy as an opportunity to implore Jason Whitlock to “stay in his lane,” as he took issues with some of the derogatory descriptors Whitlock used to refer to Taylor and her body.
Meanwhile, Smith felt the vitriol directed at Taylor had reached a breaking point, which prompted him to address it on The Stephen A. Smith Show on YouTube. Smith has already defended his embattled former colleague, Skip Bayless, who is also entangled in this same lawsuit.
“Has it been about Charlie Dixon? Not that much. Has it been about Skip Bayless? Not that much at all. Has it been about Fox Sports overall? Really, not that much at all,” said Smith. “It’s all significantly paled in comparison to the level of vitriol, venom, insults and beyond aimed at one, Miss Joy Taylor.”
Smith admitted he’s “pissed off” about the situation.
While he refrained from naming certain individuals, dismissing them as “not worth it,” he took direct aim at those using this controversy to argue that women don’t belong in sports media — a stance he called “incredibly egregious.”
“They’ll look at any woman sitting in a host chair, or any woman that’s a reporter out there or any woman that has to walk into a locker room, and all of a sudden, their credibility is being questioned,” Smith continued. “What I’m more appalled at… is the women all over social media that are allowing it to happen.”
Smith implored his guest, Tori Cooper, to correct him if he was wrong before going off on a tangent about how some women in sports media used the controversy to undermine Taylor’s credibility.
“Correct me if I’m wrong because I don’t spend a lot of time looking all over social media,” Smith added, “but I’m looking at an abundance of women and saying the allegations — I understand what the allegations are. The allegations are Joy Taylor slept with Charlie Dixon, her boss, and she did it while she was married. Well, first of all, the marriage part is her business; it’s nobody else’s. The boss situation, obviously, is dicey, make no mistake about it.
“You’ve got a girl that was supposed to be her best friend that’s supposedly diming her out right now — that’s incredibly unfortunate. But, one could easily argue, it’s really not about your innocence; it’s about how guilty I make you look, forcing you to capitulate the demands I’m making civilly…
“But what I find most egregious is the abundance of women out there who are laughing, who are pointing the finger at Joy Taylor with a profound level of guilt, as if they know. Even when they throw in the word ‘allegedly,’ they do it with smirks on their face — sort of dismissive — because, in this business, we know how to speak with our body language, not just our words. And not only that, they’re using it as an excuse to question her credibility.”
Smith emphasized that no one knows the full facts of the situation — not even him — but he does know one thing:
“I know that I’ve seen Joy Taylor on TV a lot over the years,” he said. “And I think she’s pretty damn good. I think she’s very capable. I think she’s worthy of the position she has on Fox Sports. I think her podcast with Taylor Rooks is a damn good podcast. I think her credentials in this business have been established… She produced when she had the opportunity, and that’s what created other opportunities for her.
“So I’m looking at it, and I’m saying here, ‘Wait a minute, am I watching this correctly?’ ‘Are there an abundance of women out there that are using this as a license to question her credentials.’ Have you not watched her over the years on television? And if you’re going to do that, OK, why would you? Why would you want to do that? That’s my problem — the fact that people are using this as an excuse to question her credentials.
“If she just got the job yesterday or last week or last month or something, that would be one thing. She’s been on TV for years, showing her capability. And now all of that is being ignored because of allegations.”