Adam Mendelsohn, a close adviser to Lakers star LeBron James, has released a follow-up statement after saying he was “exhausted” by the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements.
Over the July 4th weekend, the New York Times released a juicy inside ESPN story revealing that many of the network’s minority employees are unhappy with comments made by white commentator Rachel Nichols who is heard bashing the network’s efforts to impose more diversity on its on-air staff.
In a telephone recording accidentally uploaded to ESPN’s computer system, Nichols revealed her displeasure that black reporter Maria Taylor got a plum T.V. spot that Nichols had expected was hers for the taking.
The recording also revealed that she was talking to James’s P.R. adviser Adam Mendelsohn. On the call, Mendelsohn is heard slamming ESPN as a “snake pit” and claiming that “between Me Too and Black Lives Matter,” he was “exhausted.”
At one point, Mendelsohn is heard telling Nichols, “I don’t know. I’m exhausted. Between Me Too and Black Lives Matter, I got nothing left.”
Rachel Nichols: “If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else.” pic.twitter.com/aB5MifujuX
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 4, 2021
Mendelsohn released a short public statement about his comments on the recording.
Per CNBC, the Mendelsohn said:
I shouldn’t have said it or even thought it.
I work to support these movements and know that the people affected by these issues never get to be exhausted or have nothing left. I have to continue to check my privilege and work to be a better ally.
In this day of harsh reprisals against the non-woke, it remains to be seen if Mendelsohn’s statement will satisfy.
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