Jemele Hill Trump Comments Controversy

Submission 8,346

Overview

Jemele Hill Trump Comments Controversy refers to the discussion surrounding ESPN reporter Jemele Hill, who tweeted that President Donald Trump was "a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists." The comment angered many conservatives, including the White House, who called for Hill's firing. Members of the left, meanwhile, rallied around her.

Background

On September 11th, 2017, Hill, in a thread with three others, tweeted "Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists."^[1] The comment came after Hill criticized Kid Rock for "pandering to racists" by using the Confederate Flag.^[2]

Developments

Immediately, Hill caught flack for her comments from conservatives. Breitbart^[3] argued that this was a statement that would lead to the firing of known conservative ESPN personalities like Mike Ditka, Curt Schilling, Craig James had they said something similar about Barack Obama. On September 12th, ESPN PR^[6] tweeted a statement on Hill that stated Hill "knew her actions were inappropriate" and "did not represent the views of ESPN."

However, many in the sports world, including several ESPN colleagues, rallied around Hill. ESPN analyst Heath Evans, though conservative, tweeted a video offering his support of Hill, claiming those criticizing her were judging her by a double standard (shown below). Several other colleagues stood with Hill,^[4] including controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

.@jemelehill we may not see eye 2 eye but I support your freedom of speech. My apologies for conservatives playing dbl standard #Jemelehill pic.twitter.com/YafvuXw86d

— Heath Evans (@HeathEvans44) September 13, 2017

On September 13th, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to a question about the comments by saying she believed it was a "fireable offense." Sports Illustrated writer Charles Pierce called Sanders' comments "A Trip to Edges of Crazytown."^[5] "This is the official spokesperson of the President of the United States calling upon a television network to fire one of its highest profile employees because she was mean to the president online," Pierce wrote.

On the evening of September 13th, Hill tweeted saying that while she stands by her personal beliefs, she regretted painting ESPN in a negative light.^[7]

Suspension

On October 8th, 2017, Jemele Hill responded to comments by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in which he stated he would bench any player who "disrespects the flag." Hill responded on Twitter^[8] by saying "This play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ's statement, boycott his advertisers." Her tweet gained 1,700 retweets and 3,000 likes (shown below).

ESPN then suspended Hill for two weeks for a "second violation of our social media guidelines.”^[9]

This led to an outpouring of support for Hill on social media from people who found her suspension was unjust. For example, Twitter user Alex Kirshner pointed out how it was odd that President Trump was able to advocate boycotting the NFL but when Hill did it she got suspended (shown below, left). Others from the conservative side of Twitter called for Hill's firing. Conservative Elder Lansing commented that Hill should be fired for being less a sportscaster and more a Black Lives Matter advocate.