ESPN To Post Essay Celebrating The Very Vile Mark Jones' Career

In 2021, ESPN launched a project called "Black History Always." The network called the initiative "a company-wide content commitment initiative to highlight black stories" 12 months out of the year, not just during February for Black History Month.

On Wednesday, ESPN announced its plans to expand Black History Always with an "all-black staff" for an upcoming NBA broadcast on February 5.

"Veteran play-by-play voice Mark Jones will call the action with analyst Richard Jefferson and reporter Lisa Salters as they comprise the broadcast team, while the game’s broadcast will be produced by Rodney Vaughn and Paul Ervin, the press release detailed.

"ESPN’s NBA studio programming on February 5 will also be led by an all-Black team as Malika Andrews hosts both NBA Today (3-4 p.m. ET) and NBA Countdown (6:30-7 p.m.) from ESPN’s Los Angeles Production Center. ESPN NBA commentators, including analysts Chiney Ogwumike, Udonis Haslem and Kendrick Perkins, will join Andrews for both shows on ESPN. The February 5 edition of NBA Countdown will be produced by Demetrius Harris and Terrell Bouza."

Granted, the promotion of an all-black "NBA Today" and "NBA Countdown" is hardly unique, considering that the two shows regularly exclude any white, Hispanic, or Asian commentators.

Nonetheless, we couldn't help but notice (as in cringe) one of the planned projects for this year's Black History Always. Per ESPN, the network will publish an essay celebrating "the broadcasting career of Mark Jones."

Yeah, that Mark Jones.

No honest initiative should include a celebration of Jones. See, one would be hard-pressed to find a single commentator on any network that has posted more vile and hateful content than Jones has.

Here's a running list of some of