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ESPN pundits usually have haters for hot sports takes, but things go a bit deeper for Malika Andrews.
The NBA Today host has received backlash for what fans see as a slight toward Black athletes and bringing up their legal woes or past transgressions in general.
Now, in a recent sit down with DeMar DeRozan on his Dinners with DeMar series, Andrews spoke about the allegations hurled at her.
“Sometimes it is hurtful when that seeps through, particularly for me when it’s not true, right, and that’s been the hardest part for me sometimes is stomaching the falsehoods, particularly, you know this, you hate Black men or think that,” she told DeRozan. “That couldn’t be farther from the truth, and using my family or the way that my family looks as some sort of evidence of that and that is just untrue, and it’s just unkind. We all have jobs to do, and I try to do my best to show up every day in a way that you guys know what I’m about.”
She adds that she always aims to be “accurate” and “fair,” which is why she tends to get hate on social media; sometimes, the truth is understandably hurtful.
It started with when she called in to First Take to speak about then-Boston Celtic‘s head coach Ime Udoka cheating on Nia Long. Andrews took the position of social media and the Celtics organization placing the blame on women and keeping mum on Udoka’s actions. She told the First Take host, “We are not here, Stephen A., to further blame women. That is not why we are here.”
Smith fought back, seemingly not wanting to make it a gender issue, which led to an even more heated conversation.
Then, when Brandon Miller was chosen as the second pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, his involvement in a shooting, which some say didn’t need to be mentioned,
She caught even more slack when she supposedly didn’t speak enough about Josh Giddey, a white player who was allegedly involved in a relationship with an underage girl.
See how social media’s reaction to Andrews addressing the criticism.