Jemele Hill Suspended by ESPN After Tweets on Cowboys, Dolphins' Anthem Policies
October 9, 2017
ESPN announced Monday it suspended SportsCenter anchor Jemele Hill for two weeks after she violated the company's social media guidelines:
According to SportsBusiness Journal's John Ourand, ESPN took issue with Hill suggesting her Twitter followers boycott NFL advertisers in order to signal their disapproval with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross:
Jemele Hill @jemelehillThis play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ's statement, boycott his advertisers. https://t.co/LFXJ9YQe74
Hill clarified her position a day later:
Jemele Hill @jemelehillJust 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.
Jemele Hill @jemelehillIf fans really are that upset about what JJ & Stephen Ross have done, don't call the players sellouts, but you're watching every Sunday.
Jones said Sunday he wouldn't allow any Cowboys player who refuses to stand for the national anthem to play in games, a sentiment echoed by Ross as well.
In September, ESPN condemned critical statements Hill made toward President Donald Trump. She tweeted Trump is "a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists" and called him "the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime."
When asked by reporters about Hill's tweets, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Hill had committed a "fireable offense," per CNN:
CNN @CNNSarah Sanders called ESPN host Jemele Hill's anti-Trump tweets a "fireable offense" https://t.co/GkhoiyuU3C https://t.co/BIXib0cjto
Hill continued to work alongside Michael Smith on the 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter in the immediate aftermath of ESPN's reprimand.
ThinkProgress' Lindsay Gibbs reported ESPN producers had asked Michael Eaves and Elle Duncan—who are both black—to fill in for Hill on a temporary basis but Eaves and Duncan declined. Gibbs reported Smith also refused to do SportsCenter without Hill.
ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz denied to Gibbs that the company had approached another anchor to replace Hill.
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