ESPN suspended journalist Jemele Hill for tweeting about boycotting the NFL
A month ago, Jemele Hill made a terrible mistake. The ESPN journalist went on Twitter and responded to some comments, and over the course of several tweets, Jemele correctly identified Donald Trump as a white supremacist. For that terrible crime, ESPN attempted to take her off the air, only her co-host and other ESPN journalists had her back. Then the White House tried to get her fired. Sarah Huckabee Sanders literally stood at the WH podium and argued that Jemele Hill should be FIRED for correctly identifying Trump as a white supremacist.
Well, on Sunday, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, announced that he would not allow any player who kneeled to play in the NFL. These were his words: “If there’s anything that is disrespectful to the flag, then we will not play. Understand? We will not … if we are disrespecting the flag, then we will not play. Period.” This is like saying “I will fire any black person who doesn’t agree with me” or “I will fire any black person for believing that they have First Amendment rights.” Nevermind that none of this was ever about the f–king flag. So, what did the acclaimed and award-winning sports journalist Jemele Hill do? She used her Twitter to discuss the issue. She tweeted something about the only way to change the behavior of these NFL owners would be to boycott the advertisers and hit them in the wallet. And for that, ESPN suspended Jemele Hill.
ESPN has suspended Jemele Hill over her social media usage.
“Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines,” ESPN said in a statement Monday on its public relations Twitter account. “She previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet. In the aftermath, all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.”
Hill suspension comes in response to tweets she made suggesting football fans pressure NFL advertisers in response to mandates from the owners of the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins that players stand during the playing of the national anthem. On Sunday, Hill wrote, “If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don’t place the burden squarely on the players.” Hill tweeted again Monday saying that she was not calling for an advertiser boycott, but did not clarify what fan-advertiser interaction she was suggesting. “Just so we’re clear: I’m not advocating a NFL boycott. But an unfair burden has been put on players in Dallas & Miami w/ anthem directives.” Her original tweet quoted another Twitter user encouraging fans to write to advertisers’ corporate offices and post on their social-media pages.
Hill will not appear on Monday’s 6 p.m. edition of “SportsCenter,” which the network bills as “SC6” and which Hill hosts with Michael Smith. ESPN has not yet said who will host the show during Hill’s two-week suspension.
I’m disgusted by the way ESPN has handled this situation from start to finish. I’m disgusted by the way they’re treating a grown-ass woman like she’s a wayward child who needs to be chided and publicly shamed for having an opinion. Much like the kneeling football players, Jemele is using whatever platform she has to speak, to raise awareness, to calmly discuss the sports-politics issues of the day. Her tweets about Trump’s white supremacy were NOT “impulsive.” And I fail to see how it’s against ESPN’s guidelines to, you know, tweet about one of the biggest sports stories of the week. Deadspin has a good breakdown here too.
Also: weeks ago, I read an article which I can’t find now, but it was basically like: imagine if ESPN handled the Jemele Hill incident like ABC handled Jimmy Kimmel. Meaning, ABC has Kimmel’s back as Kimmel’s show becomes increasingly and authentically political. ABC is cosigning him and letting him use his platform. Imagine if ESPN had given Jemele that kind of support. (Incidentally, ABC and ESPN have the same corporate owner: Disney.)
Photos courtesy of Getty.
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