Popular ESPN journalist/anchor Jemele Hill came under fire this week after her Tweet called Donald Trump a White Supremacist, drawing the ire of America’s 45th president and his supporters.
On Sept. 11, Hill tweeted: “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists.” Hill has since deleted the Tweet but nonetheless faced an explosive week in which Trump demanded Hill be fired, and ESPN was forced to release a statement apologizing for her remarks.
Actions from the White House have come under heavy scrutiny from several professional athletes since Trump’s 2016 election, directly combining politics and sports into one big news story. Hill’s statements further tighten the link between the two topics. But should it? Do sports and politics mix? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO Sports Desk debate this interesting question.
Riley: Muhammad Ali immediately comes to mind when I think of sports and politics. His arrest for refusing to submit to the draft eventually made him a crossover star and forever merged sports and politics into the same blend. We use sports as outlets from dizzying news. It’s okay for athletes and the journalists who comment…
