Former ESPN star Marcellus Wiley has claimed that Molly Qerim left the network because she was only earning $500k per year – despite First Take partner Stephen A. Smith raking in almost 40 times as much.
Qerim shocked viewers of the popular sports talk show after abruptly ending her 19-year stint with ESPN last month, despite initial reports suggesting she would walk away at the end of the year.
Amid those reports, the 41-year-old took to Instagram to confirm she was bowing out as First Take host following a decade in the hot-seat, before long-time colleague Smith revealed a day later that she had actually left the entire company.
Following her stunning exit, ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus admitted that she had surprised them with the timing of her decision, but explained how they had recently failed to come to terms over a renewal.
And according to Wiley, who previously co-hosted the show ‘SportsNation’ with Qerim on ESPN, his former colleague felt ‘disrespected’ by her salary given that Smith recently agreed a new $20m-a-year contract.
Other female stars on the network, such as Malika Andrews and Mina Kimes, are also said to be making in the seven-figures, leaving Qerim unhappy given she had been an integral member of one of its most successful shows for quite some time.
Former ESPN star Marcellus Wiley has claimed that Molly Qerim left the network because she was only earning $500k per year
Qerim felt ‘disrespected’ by First Take partner Stephen A. Smith earning $20million per year
Wiley said on his ‘Dat Dude TV’ podcast, via Sports Illustrated, that Molly ‘wasn’t getting what she wanted’ and that she was earning ‘around half a million dollars a year’.
He also claimed that she wanted to go on and host other shows – including her own program – but ESPN bosses weren’t open to the idea.
‘That wasn’t happening,’ Wiley added. ‘They weren’t signing off on her doing her own show or any other show at the network. ‘Molly finally woke up and said enough is enough.’
During his interview with The Athletic, Magnus said that one of the reasons Qerim departed was because she wanted to do ‘other things’.
‘Molly Qerim is a wonderful person and an unbelievable teammate and colleague,’ he insisted. ‘There was a couple dimensions to this. One, is obviously we were in a renewal conversation. Two, is 10 years to do something like that is a long time.
‘I’m not going to speak for her, but I think there was a feeling that she wants to do other things, and successfully being on a top show like that for a decade qualifies as maybe I can turn the page and do something else.
‘We tried to have her do other things and to redo that agreement. It honestly became less about that, and more about, in my opinion, her wanting to do other and explore other things. It ended up being easier for her to make a clean break entirely.’
She hosted First Take for the best part of a decade before leaving ESPN entirely last month
Magnus also revealed that Qerim was already going to be stepping down as First Take host at the end of the year, meaning she was keen to embark on a new chapter.
‘She was going to come off First Take either way and that was something [where] we had already crossed that bridge,’ he added. ‘So it was from our perspective much more about what else could she be doing, how could we make her more versatile, get her involved in different things? That’s what we were trying to do.
‘I read a lot of stuff on X [on Tuesday]. There’s no controversy here. There’s no shoe that’s going to drop. She’s an awesome person. You know, it’s business. You try your best and we just weren’t totally aligned. I totally respect her interest, in rather than going into a less defined situation, to make a clean break and try to do other things outside of ESPN.’
