ESPN host who called Trump a 'white supremacist' is out
Jemele Hill, the ESPN anchor who referred to President Donald Trump as a “white supremacist” on Twitter last year, will no longer host “SportsCenter,” according to Sports Illustrated.
Fox News cited several ESPN insiders who said the move was Hill’s choice.
Radio host Clay Travis tweeted that Hill was “booted” due to “collapsing ratings,” but no other reports seem to corroborate that claim.
Jemele Hill officially booted off 6 PM SportsCenter due to collapsing ratings as I’ve been telling you guys was coming on @outkick.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 26, 2018
It is true, though, that ESPN has been hemorrhaging subscribers and struggling with ratings as of late, with many pointing to the tendency of its hosts to inject politics into sports as one reason for the drop.
Reports indicate that Hill will be leaving TV altogether and joining The Undefeated, a website owned and operated by ESPN that bills itself as “the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture.”
The only problem is, barely anyone reads The Undefeated. According to Alexa.com, The Undefeated is the 4,933th most popular website in the United States. To put that in perspective, The Wildcard, which isn’t backed by a media behemoth like ESPN, is currently ranked 702 on Alexa.com.
Hill, who has co-hosted ESPN’s “SC6” edition of “SportsCenter” since February of last year, caused ESPN to re-examine the way its personalities espouse their views on social media with her September Twitter rant.
“Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists,” she wrote at the time.
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
“Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period,” Hill later added.
Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
ESPN’s tepid response to Hill’s outburst drew significant criticism at the time. Instead of giving her any real punishment, the network simply released a statement calling her actions “inappropriate.”
“We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate,” the statement read in part.
It took Hill only a month to entangle herself in another controversy, this time regarding certain NFL owners and their stance on national anthem protests. She appeared to encourage her Twitter followers to boycott the advertisers of the teams she disagreed with.
This time, ESPN suspended Hill for two weeks, describing the incident as “a second violation of our social media guidelines.”
Hill will likely now have more freedom to express her extremely liberal political views, but will anyone be reading?
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