Molly Qerim (Photo Via Instagram/@mollyqerim)

When Molly Qerim suddenly left First Take last month, fans thought it was just another routine change. TV hosts come and go all the time. But this felt different. It wasn’t just a short break, it marked the end of her nearly 20-year run at ESPN and 10 years hosting one of its biggest shows.

At first, reports said Molly Qerim would finish her time on First Take by the end of the year. But then, out of nowhere, she announced on Instagram that she was leaving right away. The next day, Stephen A. Smith confirmed the shocking news, Molly wasn’t just leaving First Take, she was leaving ESPN completely.

That’s when the real story started to unfold.

Russo Says Qerim Left To Save Face

Chris Russo (Photo By Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
Veteran broadcaster Chris “Mad Dog” Russo thinks the move wasn’t as clean-cut as ESPN made it sound. Speaking on the SI Media Podcast, Russo said Qerim likely left because she “felt embarrassed” by the network’s internal plans to shift her off First Take.

“I think they probably wanted to move her around a little bit and try something different,” Russo said. “Not that the ratings were bad-it’s just the nature of the beast. You’re on air forever, they like to make a change for the sake of change.”

Russo added that Qerim probably didn’t want to stick around if she wasn’t hosting the show that made her a household name. “If I’m not going to do First Take, I don’t want to do SportsCenter,” he said. “She probably felt that would be a demotion. I think she precipitated it. She probably felt embarrassed being seen as a lame duck.”

But Russo isn’t the only one weighing in. Former ESPN star Marcellus Wiley also claimed Qerim had long felt underpaid and underappreciated. On his Dat Dude TV podcast, Wiley said she earned “around half a million dollars a year,” while Smith pulled in nearly 40 times more after signing a $20 million deal.

Wiley said Qerim wanted to branch out with her own show, but ESPN shut it down. “They weren’t signing off on her doing her own show or any other show,” he revealed. “Molly finally woke up and said enough is enough.”

ESPN’s President of Content, Burke Magnus, admitted Qerim’s exit caught the network off guard but confirmed she wanted to “do other things.” After ten years in the First Take chair, it seems Molly decided to go on her own terms.