ESPN Benches Jemele Hill
Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks by ESPN. Monday, Hill tweeted in response to Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones stating that all his players would stand for the National Anthem or be benched. Hill tweeted that fans should boycott Dallas Cowboy advertisers in response to Jones’ statement.
ESPN did not specify which tweets Hill was being suspended for, but one must assume that when an employee tells customers to boycott the advertisers that pay everyone’s salaries, it may be time for that employee to reevaluate some things.
While what Hill said was accurate and true, as an employee of ESPN she has to know her limits of what she can and can’t say. Attacking sponsors of not only the Dallas Cowboys but of the entire NFL, ESPN, and even her own show ultimately can’t be tolerated by the network that employees her.
Jemele Hill will either have to find a better way to use her platform at ESPN to impact social justice, or if she wants to continue to openly voice her opinion, she may need to leave ESPN at which time she will be free to express her opinions and ideas.
We all have a right to free speech, but Jemele Hill is learning the hard way that at times, there are consequences for having that freedom.
Sportscaster Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks by ESPN for what the network is calling a “violation of social media guidelines.”
“Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines. 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 action would have consequences. Hence this decision,” ESPN’s statement read.
ESPN declined to specify which tweets Hill was being suspended for, though she called for a boycott of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday after team owner Jerry Jones stated that players on his team who protested the national anthem anthem would not be allowed to play in games.
Hill, the host of ESPN’s 6 p.m. SportsCenter along with Michael Smith, was part of a national controversy last month when she tweeted that President Donald Trump was a “white supremacist who largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists.” She was not suspended for that tweet, though it did elicit a response from President Trump.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
