"It’s just unkind": Malika Andrews gets brutally honest about accusations of hating black men

Over the past few years, Malika Andrews has become one of ESPN's prominent on-air talents when it comes to NBA reporting. As she continues her rise, the longtime journalist opened up on the harsh narrative that has formed around her.

As Andrews continues her run with the iconic network, fans have called her out on numerous occasions for how she covers guys around the league. Most notably, that she is harsher on African American players compared to their white counterparts when it comes to off-court drama.

Last week, Malika Andrews sat down with Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan on his "Dinners with Demar" show. During the interview, the narrative of how she covers men of color in the NBA was brought up. Andrews openly admitted how tough it's been on her to hear such criticism from basketball fans.

“That’s been the hardest thing for me sometimes is stomaching the falsehoods, particularly this [idea of], ‘you hate Black men,’ that couldn’t be further from the truth, and using my family or the way that my family looks as some sort of evidence of that,” Andrews said. “And that it’s 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 that (NBA athletes) know what I’m about.”

Andrews' time with ESPN began in 2018 as a writer, but she got her big break in 2020 when she was chosen to be the network's sideline reporter in the NBA bubble.

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Malika Andrews takes accountability for her reporting

While Malika Andrews doesn't agree with the narrative of her reporting, she doesn't shy away from accountability. During her talk with DeMar DeRozan, she admitted to making mistakes and not always covering stories to perfection.

“That doesn’t mean that I’ve covered every story perfectly; it doesn’t mean that I don’t make mistakes,” Andrews continued. “But I think I’m pretty good at saying to you guys, ‘I could have been better there.’ And that’s, I think, what I hope we can keep, as social media continues to be bigger in the world, that kindness and that humanity that I worry sometimes we’re losing.”

Malika Andrews has caught flack from fans multiple times for how she's covered off-court stories. One of the more recent examples involves Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller, who was caught up in a murder investigation during his lone season at Alabama. In contrast, fans called out Andrews for her lack of coverage of Josh Giddey when he was allegedly having a relationship with an underage girl.

Despite the outside view of Andrews and her reporting, she remains a focal point of ESPN's daily NBA coverage.