ESPN to host town hall to address employee concerns around diversity and inclusion

quote:

---

In a memo to staff, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro addressed the steps the company has made “to improve the experiences of Black employees at ESPN” and discussed the controversy involving two of the company’s key on-air NBA talents, Maria Taylor and Rachel Nichols.

“We respect and acknowledge there are a variety of feelings about what happened and the actions we took,” Pitaro wrote in the memo, which was sent to ESPN staff on Friday. “The details of what took place last year are confidential, nuanced and complicated personnel matters. But understand this — we have a much better story than what you’ve seen this week.”

"I do want to be clear on one thing: Maria Taylor was selected as NBA Countdown host last year because she earned it,” he added. “Please know our commitment is that assignments and opportunities at ESPN are based on merit and any concerns, remarks, or inferences that suggest otherwise have been and will continue to be addressed.”

---

quote:

---

Pitaro’s memo indirectly responded to those comments, and addressed plans for the company to discuss employee concerns around diversity and inclusion going forward. “We plan to address diversity and inclusion at an upcoming ESPN town hall later this month, and we will continue to have focused conversations with the Black and African American community at ESPN in the coming weeks,” he wrote. “As always, we value an open and honest dialogue.”

He added that “we’ve begun a deep dive into the past year of exit interviews to understand any patterns and issues we can address.”

Pitaro’s memo was tied to an update around ESPN’s Black Employee and Consumer Experience initiative, which ESPN launched a year ago.

63 percent of ESPN’s executive leadership are women and/or people of color, according to the memo, and of the 116 new hires at ESPN this year, “52% are people of color and 42% are female.”

---