Ex-NFLer Breaks Silence After Fox Sports Firing Amid Explosive Joy Taylor Rumors originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Fox Sports sent shockwaves through the sports broadcasting world on Monday when it laid off a handful of hosts and axed three popular shows on FS1, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.
In a network-wide shakeup, Fox Sports released Joy Taylor, Emmanuel Acho, Craig Carton, Mark Schlereth, Danny Parkins, LeSean McCoy, Chase Daniel, James Jones, Paul Pierce, Michael Irvin, and Keyshawn Johnson.
Acho, Schlereth, McCoy, Daniel, Johnson, Irvin, and Jones were all former NFL players, while Pierce was a 10-time NBA All-Star and NBA champion with the Boston Celtics.
Because of the drastic reduction in on-air talent, Fox Sports also canceled the shows “Breakfast Ball,” which featured Carton, Parkins, and Schlereth, “The Facility,” which featured Acho, McCoy, Jones, and Daniel, and “Speak,” hosted by Taylor and also featuring Pierce and Johnson.
NEWS: Joy Taylor out at Fox Sports as FS1 cancels three shows, including her’s, Craig Carton’s & Emmanuel Acho’s, The Athletic has learned.https://t.co/vhKvPJqPWj
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 14, 2025
Marchand also reported that FS1 will “likely” create new shows to take the place of its three canceled ones. Former “Around the Horn” host Tony Reali, former “First Take” host Max Kellerman, and current “Up & Adams” host Kay Adams are reportedly frontrunners for roles on the new shows, according to Front Office Sports.
Colin Cowherd’s “The Herd,” which airs at noon ET, and “First Things First” hosted by Nick Wright, Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes at 3 p.m. ET, will still air in their regularly scheduled time slots.
The major talent shakeup comes months after Taylor was named in a bombshell lawsuit against the network in which former hairstylist Noushin Faraji alleges she was sexually harassed by former network executive Charlie Dixon, and that Taylor made racially insensitive comments toward her and slept with both Dixon and Acho to advance her career as an on-air host.
While Acho’s reputation didn’t take the hit that Taylor’s did after Faraji’s explosive allegations were made public, some fans didn’t easily forget his involvement with the scandal.
Despite the backlash he saw in the days after the lawsuit was filed, Acho took to social media on Monday after his firing to break his silence on his exit from Fox Sports.
“In sports, when you’re not good enough, you get cut,” Acho wrote. “In TV, when you’re not good enough, you get cancelled. I’m not going to try and come to y’all with some “Big announcements soon. Stay tuned” because I don’t actually know what’s coming. But what I do know is I trust God. ❤️🙏🏾.”
Questions about Taylor’s future at the network arose back in February when she missed a handful of shows as punishment for “an infraction,” according to a report from Ryan Glasspiegel and Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 15, 2025, where it first appeared.