"Ain’t no way Paul Pierce and Key aren’t wrapped up in this somehow" - NBA fans react to Joy Taylor controversy

Fox Sports moved Joy Taylor, Paul Pierce and Keyshawn Johnson to the Speak show in August 2024 following the end of Skip Bayless' Undisputed. The network shook up its slate of sports talk shows to boost its ratings, which struggled against the competition. Taylor, who previously moderated Undisputed, became the lead host for Speak, previously known as Speak For Yourself.

Over the weekend, a former Fox Sports employee filed a 42-page lawsuit against the network. Noushin Faraji, a hairstylist, alleged workplace misconduct and named Taylor, Bayless and Charlie Dixon, an EVP, among the defendants.

Fans promptly reacted to the news:

“There ain’t no way Paul pierce and key aren’t wrapped up in this somehow. There is no way they keep getting jobs for what they put on screen. They are the absolute worst”

One fan said:

“She wanted to lie on him once she couldnt use him anymore fear these h*es”

Another fan commented:

“Seeing like this makes me scared they have something on Shannon”

One user added:

“Joy was married from 2016 to 2017 so that makes it even crazier - don't blame the exec at all tho, it's joy taylor”

Another fan continued:

“She was getting on tv by any means necessary”

"What in the world was going on at FOX Sports! Wow! SMH!," one fan wrote.

The suit detailed Noushin Faraji meeting Joy Taylor and former NFL star and Speak host Emmanuel Acho, who Faraji did not recognize at first. In the next encounter, Faraji alleged:

“Ms. Faraji later asked Ms. Taylor if Mr. Acho also worked at Fox. Ms. Taylor confirmed and explained she wanted Mr. Acho to recommend her on the show Speak for Yourself. Ms. Faraji became alarmed and warned Ms. Taylor that she should probably not sleep with Mr. Dixon and Mr. Acho at the same time, as Mr. Dixon is a very powerful man that may become very angry.”

“Ms. Taylor told her not to worry about it. She explained that she was also now powerful and once Mr. Dixon was no longer useful to her, she would follow through on her plan to tell the company that he forced himself on her. She would not allow herself to be forced out by Mr. Dixon like other women talent.”

Roughly two years after the first meeting, Taylor began work as host of Speak with Paul Pierce and Keyshawn Johnson. Acho left the show in September 2024 to join The Facility, the new program that replaced the Undisputed. Fox Sports and the defendants in the allegation have not yet commented on or responded to the lawsuit.

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Joy Taylor has been with Fox since 2016

Fox Sports hired Joy Taylor in March 2016 after she earned rave reviews for her work at CBS covering Fantasy Football Today and Thursday Night Live. She began as a fill-in analyst on The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

Five months later, she was named the moderator of Undisputed, which featured Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe. Two years after joining the Bayless-Sharpe show, Taylor returned to Cowherd’s program.

In September 2021, Fox Sports Radio began airing The Joy Taylor Show. A year later, the network announced Taylor as the lead host of Speak and will guide the program with Paul Pierce, Keyshawn Johnson and Michael Irvin.