Jemele Hill suspended by ESPN for two weeks over tweets

ESPN has suspended sports commentator Jemele Hill, for two weeks following several posts she made on her Twitter account.

Jemele Hill suspended

In a statement released Monday afternoon, ESPN stated Hill was suspended due to “a second violation of our social media guidelines”.

Hill “previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet,” ESPN said in a statement.

“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.”

Comments

On Sunday, Hill took to social media to comment on Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones having said that any player who “disrespects the flag” will not play referencing NFL player protests that take place during the national anthem.

Hill said that “Jerry Jones also has created a problem for his players, specifically the black ones. If they don’t kneel, some will see them as sellouts.”

She later said, “If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don’t place the burden squarely on the players.”

“Just so we’re clear: I’m not advocating a NFL boycott,” Hill tweeted. “But an unfair burden has been put on players in Dallas & Miami w/ anthem directives.”

Though many supported Hill’s freedom of speech, Hill would eventually express remorse for her tweets.

“My comments on Twitter expressed my personal beliefs,” Hill said last month.

“My regret is that my comments and the public way I made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company and my colleagues remains unconditional.”

Jemele Hill suspended ESPN response

Shortly after last month’s controversy, ESPN chief John Skipper sent a memo to staffers in which he said that “ESPN is about sports” and that it is “not a political organization.”

Bob Iger, the CEO of ESPN’s parent company Disney, expressed sympathy for Hill after her “white supremacist” tweet.

“I’ve not ever experienced prejudice, certainly not racism. It’s even hard for me to understand what they’re feeling about this, what it feels like to experience racism,” Iger said at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment summit last week. “So I felt that we need to take into account what Jemele and other people at ESPN were feeling at this time. That resulted in us not taking action on the Tweet that she put out.”

Fellow EPSN staffer Lindsay Czarniak took to Twitter to express her support for Hill:

Photo : (John Salangsang / Invision)