Joy Taylor is reportedly out at FS1.
The news, via Andrew Marchand at The Athletic, comes after Taylor was named as a defendant in a lawsuit by a former FS1 hairstylist earlier this year. However, Marchand reports that Taylor is out as part of a broader shakeup to the FS1 daytime lineup, which is related to poor ratings. This shakeup will see her show, Speak, canceled alongside two other recently launched programs.
Taylor has worked at the network for nearly a decade, starting as an anchor for Undisputed and The Herd before transitioning to an analyst role on Speak in 2021. In January, Taylor was a centerpiece of a lawsuit that alleged she contributed to a hostile work environment and used intimate relationships with men at the company to rise to new jobs.
Previous reports indicated Taylor’s contract was up this summer, and she denied comment her future with Fox Sports in a recent interview on The Breakfast Club.
Since the lawsuit was filed, Taylor hired outside counsel and began negotiating a settlement separate from Fox. The network fired longtime content head Charlie Dixon in April after he was also named in that lawsuit and another from former host Julie Stewart-Binks, which alleged that Dixon sexually assaulted her.
Dixon launched the new-look Speak as well as morning shows Breakfast Ball and The Facility last year. All three shows have now been canceled, per Marchand.
Marchand added that some talent may be retained for the new FS1 lineup, highlighting Speak‘s Keyshawn Johnson and Breakfast Ball‘s Danny Parkins in particular. In his report at The Athletic, Marchand also suggested Breakfast Ball‘s Craig Carton could be headed back to WFAN, where he hosted morning radio for a decade.
Since launching her podcast Two Personal with TNT and Amazon’s Taylor Rooks in 2024, Taylor took the show over solo this year. On The Breakfast Club, Taylor stated the split was purely over Rooks’ busy schedule. Taylor also described her reaction to the lawsuit as a “grief process,” coming to terms with professional relationships that were not what she thought.
Big picture, the latest reset for FS1 is not ideal optically for the younger-sibling sports network, but not wholly unsurprising. The network has not had a clear vision since its launch a decade ago, and especially since dismissing Shannon Sharpe in 2023.
It has stars like Johnson, Colin Cowherd, Nick Wright, and the up-and-coming Danny Parkins. But it has largely failed to develop creative and exciting programming. Losing a homegrown talent like Taylor doesn’t help those efforts.