#Maria Taylor feels like a ‘queen’ after ESPN colleagues support

On Tuesday, the sports reporter received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her colleagues during ESPN’s “NBA Countdown”, hours after she shut down Chicago radio host Dan McNeil for tweeting a crude comment about her “Monday Night Football” ensemble.

“The people who fuel me,” Taylor began on Instagram. “Are the people who support me. The only people who can effect me are the people who love me. I’m SO thankful for my NBA Countdown family. Once again you’ve lifted me up over a hurdle. And made me feel like a Queen. Let’s go crush the Finals.”

During Monday night’s broadcast of the New York Giants’ home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, McNeil tweeted a screenshot of Taylor at MetLife Stadium, writing: “NFL sideline reporter or a host for the AVN (Adult Video News) annual awards presentation?” The tweet was deleted about a half-hour later.

Entercom confirmed Tuesday that McNeil had been fired from his post at The Score.

“For each one of us our words have power,” Rachel Williamson, regional president for Entercom, told Deadspin in a statement.

“For our brands and on-air personalities that is amplified and brings increased responsibility how we choose to use our voices. (Monday) night’s tweet, and its degrading and humiliating tone to a fellow female broadcaster, was unacceptable.

“We have the best teams in Chicago, and we must continue to hold ourselves to high expectations to continue to be leaders in our organization, our industry and our community. We apologize to all who were offended by Dan’s words, especially Maria.”