Jemele Hill Says ESPN Was Right To Suspend Her: ‘I Violated The Policy’
Jemele Hill has defended ESPN for suspending her, saying that she deserved it for violating the company’s social media policy, TMZ reports. Hill, a sports journalist, was suspended after one of her tweets seemed to encourage her followers to boycott NFL advertisers. The tweet was in response to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, saying he would not accept players kneeling during the anthem.
“I deserved a suspension,” Hill said to a TMZ cameraman. “I violated the policy. Going forward we’ll be in a good, healthy place.”
Hill got a lot of support on social media after ESPN suspended her. But she says that the company was fair in the way that they handled the situation.
Jemele, however, refuses to take back the statements she made about President Donald Trump. In September, she tweeted that Donald Trump was a white supremacist who had surrounded himself with other white supremacists. These tweets came after white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia. One woman was killed when a white, male driver rammed his car into a counter-protest. Many were displeased with Donald Trump’s initial response to the incident because he said there were “good people on both sides.” To some, his comments made it seem like he supported the white supremacists.
As Vox notes, this was what Hill was responding to in her tweets about Donald Trump, the tweets that she refuses to take back.
Trump responded by tweeting that Jemele had caused ratings to spiral downward. He also demanded that she apologize for the “untruth.” As Variety reports, ESPN distanced itself from Jemele’s tweets, but they did not fire her even though White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that she thought it was a “fireable” offense.” Instead, ESPN president John Skipper sent a memo to staff warning that they should be careful about doing anything that “undermines” the position of the company.
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have "tanked," in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2017
Jemele Hill will be back on ESPN on Monday. She was suspended for two weeks.
Jemele Hill: I deserve my suspension from ESPN for my tweets about Trump https://t.co/hkrfaU0rrx pic.twitter.com/hiEBC3tXGE
— The Hill (@thehill) October 21, 2017
Do you agree that Jemele Hill deserved her suspension from ESPN? Or did they violate her right to free speech? Do you think that she should take back her comments about Donald Trump being a white supremacist? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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