ESPN host Malika Andrews responds to backlash over her coverage of black players

Malika Andrews has responded to the “falsehoods” present in the criticism of her reporting on Black players and coaches in the NBA.

ESPN anchor Andrews – who has a black father and a white mother – has sometimes been accused by fans of targeting black basketball figures, feeling that they has dishonestly brought up past offenses.

Speaking DeMar DeRozan’s YouTube talk showHowever, she strongly denied that she had any bias against black athletes – and explained how much these baseless claims hurt.

‘Sometimes the hardest thing for me is digesting the untruths, especially this one [idea that I] “hate black men,” Andrews said on “Dinners with DeMar,” via the New York Post.

She added, “Using my family or the way my family looks as some kind of evidence [to that effect] … It’s just not true and it’s just unkind.”

That second comment appears to reference a post from former NFL star Dez Bryant last year.

Andrews is the host of ESPN’s “NBA Today” and has become a star at the network

The ex-Cowboys receiver took issue with Andrews bringing up Brandon Miller’s involvement in a fatal shooting before being drafted by the Hornets, while apparently not bringing up Josh Giddey (who is white) had an alleged relationship with an underage girl (neither Miller nor Giddey were charged).

“Your parents really raised you wrong and the fact that you went to private school doesn’t make you any better,” says Bryant said on Xbefore calling Andrews a “doll.”

Andrews also drew criticism from fans for reporting two previous arrests of Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla when he was initially hired into the role on an interim basis in 2022.

And some fans were also mad at her for saying that former NBA player Andreian Payne was accused of sexual assault during the discussion about his death.

‘I try very hard to make sure that the things that I have experienced, I try to preserve [them] in my mind when I talk about players,” she said. “I try to have that empathy…I have a job to do [but] “I’m not here to play gotcha,” she said.

‘That doesn’t mean I’ve covered every story perfectly, it doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes. But I think I’m pretty good at telling you, ‘I could have been there better.

Andrews, the host of the studio show “NBA Today,” is considered a star at ESPN and was in Las Vegas for the NBA Cup finals on Tuesday.