Jason Whitlock and Marcellus Wiley worked together at Fox Sports as co-hosts on “Speak For Yourself” from 2018 to 2020. They know all of the parties involved in the 42-page lawsuit brought by former Fox Sports hairdresser Noushin Faraji that has rocked the sports world and given former Fox employees who were discarded as Joy Taylor and Emmanuel Acho rose up the ranks of the station reason to revisit the past with what they feel are clearer lenses concerning why they no longer work at the network.
After Whitlock left, Emmanuel Acho replaced him as the new co-host. Marcellus continues to keep great relationships with the people there and admitted that while he was working there, two on-air talents still at Fox warned him, “Hey Marcellus, watch out they are plotting on ya, dog.”
Whitlock reunited with Wiley on his “Fearless” podcast to discuss how the recent developments have influenced his feelings about his unceremonious exit at FS1.
Marcellus Wiley and Jason Whitlock: Victims Of A Fox Sports Sex Scandal?
Whitlock says the lawsuit helps him understand things he personally suspected prior to his exit in 2020 but are now confirmed. Whitlock also feels that Wiley is picking up on the same things, 24 hours after the former Ivy League NFL star turned media personality read the lawsuit aimed at his former colleagues.
“Joy Taylor, Acho and Dixon had plans in motion in February of 2020 to reimagine the show as a Joy Taylor and Emmanuel Acho show,” said Whitlock referring to “Speak For Yourself” which is now called “Speak.”
Whitlock read the 42-page lawsuit and says nothing in there surprises him.
“I heard you say you were unaware of the rumors about Charlie and Joy, I was not unaware,” Whitlock revealed before getting to his more nefarious point.
“But when I read in Feb-March of 2020, Noushin Faraji … hairdresser went out to lunch with Joy and Emmanuel Acho. Me and Marcellus were doing the show together, but Emmanuel and Joy Taylor were meeting. It’s not crystal clear if they were talking about ‘Speak For Yourself,’ but somebody out that meeting together where they discussed working together,” Whitlock said.
“Then, once I left in September ’22 and he’s (Acho is) working there … Joy said she wanted to be on ‘Speak For Yourself,’ and in 2022 that came to fruition,” he added.
Both Wiley and Whitlock feel her rise was a bit too swift. With information now in hand, Wiley says he can confirm that there were some long-range plans being concocted as early as 2020.
Marcellus Wiley Says He Was Aware That Joy Taylor and Emmanuel Acho Were Plotting On His Job
“It really crystallizing for me some of the machinery that was at play, some of the moves and mechanisms. I never looked at Acho in a negative light,” Wiley said.
Wiley says he considers the media game like football, where sometimes they bring in a younger and cheaper guy to replace you. “This lawsuit brought a lot of things home for me that I never thought of,” Wiley said.
“The thing you didn’t know,” Wiley tells Whitlock. “What I knew was that Acho and Joy were plotting for our show. I did know that. What I didn’t know, allegedly, was the fact that Charlie Dixon was involved with Joy Taylor romantically. If I did know that then, then it would have made sense all of the movements and the power that came from those movements.
”It’s one thing to go to lunch with somebody and say I want my own show, but to actually make it come to fruition that takes a different level of pull. I’ve always known that Acho and Joy Taylor were romantically involved,” he added.
Wiley Has New Show “On The Rocks”
Wiley, who has personality and vast sports knowledge, continues to put out podcasts, debuting a new show this week called “On The Rocks.” He says it’s an integration between former players and NARPs, also known as “non-athlete regular people,” chopping it up about sports.
So for two years he says he knew Acho was trying to take his job, and he looked at it as healthy competition and let the chips fall where they may. Wiley says Fox offered him jobs that were below his skill level in an effort to hasten his departure, after canceling “our show that was growing at the greatest rate of all the shows at FS1.”
“I sat there and said if Charlie Dixon is a part of this then this is a whole different animal than it was before,” Wiley said.
Wiley says after his first “On the Rocks” show people were calling him and letting him know that the relationship between Joy and Charlie Dixon is not a rumor and “It’s really disturbing to see if this is true, that this is how it all went down.”
Will Marcellus Wiley Pursue Legal Action For Career Derailment?
Whitlock says he feels Wiley was possibly treated unfairly and could have cause for a lawsuit because his opportunities were undermined.
“People have reached out from a lot of different directions, including legally, saying, ‘Marcellus take another look at what you went through,” Wiley revealed.
He says he’s looking at the potential move right now. If all of these accusations pan out, he could be in for a big bag.
