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Jemele Hill is suspended from ESPN, and people have ~theories~

This isn't the first time Hill has faced criticism for controversial tweets.

Alison Main

on October 9, 2017

Jemele Hill is suspended from ESPN, and people have ~theories~

Credit: MIIKKA SKAFFARI/Getty Images

ESPN has a lot of people saying "something is up" after it suspended SportsCenter host Jemele Hill for two weeks. Specifically, they're calling out the network for kowtowing to the NFL.

The suspension came after Hill sent out a series of tweets beginning on Sunday night responding to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' statement that he would bench any player that knelt during the national anthem.

Hill told fans upset by Jones' position that only withholding your own money from Cowboys' advertisers can affect change. Even though she clarified Monday morning that she wasn't calling for a boycott, she still got suspended.

ESPN said in a statement that the punishment was due to a "second violation of our social media guidelines," referring to that time the host called President Donald Trump a "white supremacist" on Twitter.

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But her fans -- and haters -- were quick to see through ESPN's statements on the matter and call the sports broadcasting giant out on its undying allegiance to powerful (and wealthy) professional sports leagues.

The move reminded many of Bill Simmons, the former ESPN sportscaster and wonder boy who in 2014 was suspended after calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar. Simmons was fired by ESPN a year later and moved on to HBO.

Jemele Hill proving what @BillSimmons taught us: Nothing gets ESPN more nervous than an employee going after the almighty NFL.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) October 9, 2017

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Even Trump supporters, who want her fired (echoing the White House) were calling BS.

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ESPN's brown-nosing aside, many were quick to call out the double standard Hill faces.

A white POTUS can tweet a meme of him assaulting a woman with a golf ball, but a black woman can't be thoughtful on Twitter about injustice?
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) October 9, 2017

But Jemele spoke truth to power and she's out two weeks? Seems like a warning shot to me. The double standards are staggering y'all.
— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) October 9, 2017

Jemele Hill is held to a higher standard for her online behavior than the current President of the United States. Just think about that.
— Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) October 9, 2017

.@espn wants to profit off of @jemelehill, they want her "diversity" (symbolically) but don't want her commentary & voice as a black woman.
— Nicole G. Van Cleve (@nvancleve) October 9, 2017

So what to do about ESPN's shady motives? Some took Hill's comment that "change happens when advertisers are impacted" to heart.

Until Jemele Hill is back on-air, @ESPN will be off in our house. https://t.co/m3kobKa6mK
— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) October 9, 2017

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Topics Donald Trump Politics

Alison Main

Alison Main is an intern with Real Time. She is originally from St. Louis, but she currently lives in Los Angeles, where she studies Broadcast and Digital Journalism at the University of Southern California. Alison has previously interned at CNN, both with "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon" and with the New York news bureau. The highlight of her journalism career (so far) was serving as political director for USC Annenberg Media during the 2016 election season.