Malika Andrews. Leon Bennett/Getty Images for EBONY
ESPN’s Malika Andrews got candid about criticism she’s received about a perceived racial bias in her reporting.
Andrews, 29, appeared on NBA star DeMar DeRozan’s mental health conversation series, Dinners With DeMar, where the NBA Today and NBA Countdown host explained how she’s been forced to confront the narrative.
“The hardest part for me sometimes is stomaching falsehoods, particularly this, ‘You hate Black men,’” Andrews told DeRozan, 35. “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. That is just untrue. And it’s just unkind.”
Andrews comes from mixed race parents and married fellow ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin, who is white, in August.
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“It is hurtful, and I think that’s OK to say sometimes. It hurts,” Andrews admitted. “It doesn’t matter if it’s someone who is credible or someone with a big platform or if it’s someone in their mom’s basement just firing off a post. Sometimes it is hurtful when that seeps through, particularly for me when it’s not true.”
Former NFL wide receiver Dez Bryant criticized Andrews during her coverage of the NBA Draft in 2023, arguing that she spent time discussing criminal charges brought against draft pick Brandon Miller, who is Black, while not covering an alleged relationship between a minor and draft pick Josh Giddey, who is white.
“I advise you not to make this a black or white thing,” Bryant, 36, posted via X at the time. “Your parents really raised you wrong and just because you went to a private school don’t make you better. You appeal and I know your kind. You just a puppet. I dont know how a former or current nba player could sit there across from you and look at you with some kind of respect.”
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While vehemently disagreeing with opinions like Bryant’s, Andrews acknowledged her journalistic track record isn’t spotless.
“We all have jobs to do and we do our best — I try to do my best — to show up every day in a way that you guys know what I’m about,” she told DeRozan. “That doesn’t mean that I’ve covered every story perfectly. It doesn’t mean that I don’t make mistakes. But I think I’m pretty good at saying to you guys in particular, ‘Could have been better there.’”
She added, “As social media continues to be bigger in the world, that kindness and that humanity I worry sometimes we are losing.”
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