Elle Duncan Shares Incredible Stories of Racism While Working in Boston

INCREDIBLE for 2014 and 2015! But unfortunately these stories are true. Elle Duncan the ESPN Sports anchor worked briefly in Boston at NESN (New England Sports Network) before coming to the worldwide leader in sports network. The Atlanta native rise in media began in her home town with The Two Live Stews radio show, V-103 with Ryan Cameron, Pre and Post- game shows with the Falcons and Hawks, and as a traffic reporter on 11 Alive WXIA. She goes on to say that without her on-air work with NESN, she would have never garnered the experience necessary to land the anchor position at ESPN that working at NESN afforded her.

She tweeted out her experiences in Boston last week and expectedly received some push back from the Boston community. She appeared on the “Dale and Keefe Show” on WEEI in Boston to tell her story. Her experiences with racism made her decide to leave Boston before her contract was up and face unemployment rather than continue to work in a city that made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

This is well worth the listen. See below.

Here are tweets detailing her time in Boston. Elle replied to a Michael Wilbon tweet where he stated that the only time he was called the N-word during his sportswriting career was in Boston.

I always dreamed of hosting a sports show. And did that @NESN in BOS. And then chose unemployment over staying there because of the hate and racism we faced living in that city. The network was a safe haven and I met lifelong friends there— but it ended outside of that building

— Elle Duncan (@elleduncanESPN) June 12, 2020

Btw since some of you need actual receipts (pathetic)..here’s two of many Air BNB inquires seeking short term rentals since my lease in Cambridge was ending in Feb and my husband moved back to Atl to wait for me. I ended up couch surfing for 2 months w/ amazing friends cuz $$ pic.twitter.com/UWQSGwdLfB

— Elle Duncan (@elleduncanESPN) June 13, 2020

Here is the podcast of her appearance on the “Dale and Keefe Show.”



The conversation begins at the 21:00 mark. The hosts were rendered speechless after she recounted story after story after story about the racism she encountered in Boston.


ESPN recently launched 'The Interaction' on ESPN Radio with Elle and Clinton Yates. A weekly show discussing sports and racial injustice.

Coming up at 8p EST: 'The Intersection' with @clintonyates & @elleduncanESPN.

Earlier this morning, Elle joined @GolicAndWingo & talked about what to expect on the debut show.#JuneteenthDay pic.twitter.com/3E35nyWgLr

— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) June 19, 2020