- On Monday, Rachel Nichols made an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump alongside Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson to apologize for calling Maria Taylor a “diversity” hire in leaked audio recording
- Perkins and Jefferson were immediately criticized over their defense of Nichols on the show
- Perkins jumped on Twitter Spaces later at night to defend his appearance on “The Jump” during the Nichols apology
- Read more Brobible Sports articles here
Kendrick Perkins has addressed the backlash he received after appearing on the latest edition of ESPN’s “The Jump.’
After the NY Times released an audio recording of Rachel Nichols saying Maria Taylor was a “diversity” hire, Nichols addressed the situation alongside Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson on Monday.
Rachel Nichols, appearing alongside Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson, just apologized on The Jump pic.twitter.com/hXjMi283CZ
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 5, 2021
Rachel Nichols opened an episode of “The Jump” a few minutes ago by apologizing. Her full comments: pic.twitter.com/WOtEXy79Ea
— Kevin Draper (@kevinmdraper) July 5, 2021
Perkins and Jefferson received criticism over their appearance during the Nichols’ apology.
Disappointed in @Rjeff24 & @KendrickPerkins . Tell @Rachel__Nichols "Admit you meant what you said, you weren't blowing off steam & because you said it, it's now @MariaTaylor 's response that is being made out to be the problem" Can't believe you two don't see that
— NowXNowWhat (@NowXNowWhat) July 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/Peaceful_Rule/status/1412242851203796993
Hours after “The Jump” aired, Kendrick Perkins jumped into a Twitter Spaces conversation to defend his appearance during Nichols’ apology.
Kendrick Perkins jumps on spaces and defends his appearance on “The Jump” today during Rachel Nichols apology over the Maria Taylor comments https://t.co/4MP4SCAGKh
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) July 6, 2021
“I’m saying that you can be mad with whoever else but at the end of the day Kendrick Perkins didn’t have anything to do with none of this conversation. Kendrick Perkins was scheduled to be on “The Jump” regardless before this even came out yesterday. Now I had to address it and I thought I addressed it appropriately, I thought I handled it appropriately, well for one I spoke and acknowledged Rachel for however you want to say her apology was, she apologized and I also said that she had never done anything towards me because she didn’t…and I gave Maria her flowers…At the end of the day I can’t go out there and go off and go crazy and risk losing my job because some people want me to go on there and speak for how they feel “