ESPN announces sports analyst Maria Taylor is departing

ESPN's Maria Taylor has decided to leave the sports network. The network and Taylor made a joint statement Wednesday that they failed to reach a contract extension. Taylor left following weeks of scrutiny over ESPN's handling of a diversity complaint made after her colleague, Rachel Nichols, remarked that Taylor got a hosting job of an NBC pregame show because she is Black. In a phone call in July 2020 with a representative of LeBron James, Nichols said: “I wish Maria Taylor all the success…