ESPN Host Malika Andrews' Blackness Trends on Twitter For Criticizing Ime Udoka, Stephen A. Smith
Sports Twitter has questioned ESPN host Malika Andrews’ blackness for her coverage of suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.
Andrews’ name has trended on Twitter over the past 24 hours with high-shared tweets accusing her, a bi-racial woman, of daddy issues, problems with black men, and selling out to her white bosses.
Several of these tweets have hundreds of shares, in part due to an algorithm that arbitrarily amplifies select posts:
https://twitter.com/sportsrapport/status/1575160539839602689
https://twitter.com/jthechuckman/status/1574638507783376897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1574638507783376897%7Ctwgr%5E7425f915f4488629df7bdfaf3105b030cad89f84%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outkick.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D403574action%3Deditclassic-editor__forgetclassic-editor
The pile-on originates from Andrews' vocal criticism of Ime Udoka. According to The Athletic, the Celtics suspended Udoka for the 2022-23 season after he made unwanted comments to a female underling with whom he had an improper relationship.
Her ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith racialized the suspension after inaccurately claiming that teams have allowed white men to get away with similar inappropriate relationships. (Hello, fired former University of Arkansas head coach white man Bobby Petrino.)
Andrews didn't buy into Smith's talking point. Nor did she appreciate him calling on the Celtics to disclose the name of the woman with whom Udoka had a relationship.
On Friday, Andrews called into Smith's television program "First Take" to tell him to "stop" making irresponsible claims.
Smith and Andrews got into one of the more entertaining Woke Offs to air on ESPN of late:
https://twitter.com/OutkickDanZ/status/1573372495536988161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1573372495536988161%7Ctwgr%5Ef2de3d7b4a563dc05b49d075c9df19b03ee4a7b7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outkick.com%2Fstephen-a-smith-malika-andrews-ime-udoka-espn%2F
https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1573340866416082944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1573340866416082944%7Ctwgr%5Ef2de3d7b4a563dc05b49d075c9df19b03ee4a7b7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outkick.com%2Fstephen-a-smith-malika-andrews-ime-udoka-espn%2F
Later in the day, Andrews doubled down on her criticism of Udoka in a spat with former NBA player Kendrick Perkins:
https://twitter.com/iam_johnw/status/1573392106844000257
During the segment, Andrews brought up interim Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla’s domestic violence charges over a decade ago.
#NBATwitter considered this comment unnecessary:
https://twitter.com/TedBuddy8/status/1573073070402994176
Twitter had turned on Andrews entirely at this point, accusing her of using her platform to hold back black men.
Users dug up a photo of Andrews alongside her fellow ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin. The now-viral photo suggests Andrews is in a relationship with McMenamin, who is white.
Left-wing sports fans do not approve of women of color possibly dating white men:
https://twitter.com/YNGBLDPRST/status/1574529511437537280
https://twitter.com/reesetheone1/status/1575129336587456512
https://twitter.com/KingVicious3/status/1573608239358353408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1573608239358353408%7Ctwgr%5E169d9947ff70e4c971391f80580e5827b4f6adff%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheshadowleague.com%2Fespns-malika-andrews-randomly-brings-up-boston-celtics-new-head-coach-joe-mazzulas-past-black-twitter-wants-her-fired%2F
Twitter expected Andrews to ease her criticism of Udoka upon the racialization of the matter. She didn't do that. Rather, she rejected Stephen A. Smith's race-bait and embarrassed him on his own show.
Notice that none of Andrews' colleagues have defended her against these online attacks. Elle Duncan, Bomani Jones, and Ryan Clark brand themselves as fighters against racism. Apparently, this type of racism does not phase them.
Ultimately, the attacks on Malika Andrews emanate from social media users, often those with #BLM in their bio, having issues with a black woman disagreeing with the groupthink to which many commentators subscribe.
The social media users who most frequently screech about racism distaste nothing more than a person of color offering an opposing view. Left-wing Twitter and the corporate press do not appreciate them thinking for themselves.
The treatment of Andrews is not dissimilar to the treatment of Sage Steele, another bi-racial host at ESPN. Steele thinks differently than the consensus media. Thus outlets like Deadspin have accused her of being a Candace Owens wannabe.
Ironically, unlike Steele, Andrews has spent the past two years catering to the very Twitter users calling for her job. She openly championed Democratic talking points in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and following the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Yet as Megyn Kelly told OutKick in 2021, "It doesn’t matter how many chips you deposit in the Woke Bank. They will come for you, they will cut you."
Andrews had built up a lengthy portfolio. But one counter opinion has the mob calling for her to renounce her blackness.
#BlackOpinionsMatter. So long as they support the prevailing media narrative. Those are the rules of wokeness.