Tag: Jemele Hill

“They look at it like food on the plate ? some people don’t like the veggies and the mashed potatoes touching,” Hill said on “The Late Show” Thursday. “But in this case, they’ve always touched, they’ve always mixed together.” Hill, a staff writer for The Atlantic covering sports, race and politics, was responding to Colbert’s question on whether sports and politics were “more connected now than ever” ? particularly as President Donald Trump routinely interjects himself into controversies involving sports, the late show host added. On the Colbert show, she discussed the Showtime documentary “Shut Up and Dribble,” which she narrated. NBA superstar LeBron James served as executive director for the series, which derives its title from Fox News’ Laura Ingraham infamously saying that James and fellow NBA premiere player Kevin Durant should “shut up and dribble” after they criticized Trump. Hill joked that Ingraham inadvertently gave her “another check” with her dismissive remark. ‘Shut up and dribble’ — Fox News’s Laura Ingraham to LeBron and Kevin Durant after their criticism of President Trump pic.twitter.com/0BlokQDIIl — Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 16, 2018 Hill found herself in the spotlight last year after she criticized Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Twitter for threatening to bench NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial inequality. Weeks prior to the suspension announcement, Hill tweeted that Trump is “a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself [with] other white supremacists.” Colbert said Hill’s tweet “has held up like a fine wine.” Hill said the peaceful protests by some athletes that have attracted attention should not necessarily be viewed as political. “Some of this is just simply right and wrong,” she said. “To me, politics is when you have a pro argument, and a con argument. Is anybody out there pro-police brutality?”

ESPN alum and current writer for The Atlantic Jemele Hill sounded off on all things sports and politics on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday. Colbert praised her for her tweet last year that Donald Trump is “a white supremacist who surrounds himself with other white supremacists,” which in part led to her suspension at the sports network. "Number one, I was super impressed he spelled my name right," she said when asked what her reaction to Trump's tweet was. But she added that as a journalist “you live for that moment,” and she was ultimately amused and took it as a compliment. As for whether Trump's presidency has meant politics and sports are more connected than ever, Hill said this is nothing new. “In my experience, people who object to that intersection [of sports and politics] don’t like the opinion or viewpoint being expressed,” she added. But she explained that she believes “some of this is simply right or wrong.” "To me politics is when you have a pro argument and a con argument. Is anyone out there pro racism? Or pro police brutality? Right now the two most important athletes of this generation are LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick."

Disney CEO Bob Iger admitted that ESPN has become overly political. When asked by The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview published Thursday how the sports network has changed over the past year, Iger said that the network is working on reeling in its politics and focusing on sports. "There’s been a big debate about whether ESPN should be focused more on what happens on the field of sport than what happens in terms of where sports is societally or politically," Iger said. Skipper shocked the media industry by leaving ESPN last year when a drug dealer attempted to extort him by using his cocaine habit against him. Prior to his sudden exit, Skipper was reguarly accused of making ESPN a left-leaning network. "He has brought back some balance." She also called Trump a “bigot” and “unqualified and unfit to be president.” Skipper moved her to the flagship “SportsCenter,” but she was eventually reassigned under Pitaro before leaving the network altogether. Last month, “First Take” co-host Max Kellerman made headlines by slamming Tiger Woods’ response to questions about President Trump. No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office,” Woods told reporters when asked about Trump. … To say you must have respect for the office — Tiger, be clear.

Through this process she learned what it means to stand up for what you believe in how to tackle politics at work. As President Trump began firing insults against these players, Hill became more vocal. She tweeted, "Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists." Coming 9/1 an amicable departure / buyout for @jemelehill from @espn Been a long time coming #JemeleHill #ESPN — jamesmiller (@JimMiller) August 26, 2018 As Hill and the rest of the nation moves forward with the political conversations that inevitably impact all aspects of our lives, her story can teach us all how to tackle politics at work. Understand that discomfort, awkwardness or more serious professional consequences can arise from having a political conversation at work. "We have to make the distinction between what is political and was just simply right and wrong," she explains. This distinction should not only inform when you decide to talk about politics at work but also how you talk about politics at work. Finally, if workers decide that they need to discuss a tense issue at work, they need to be prepared to put in the work. Remaining professional and polite is not always easy when having political conversations, but it is a crucial part of having a constructive conversation. It's not always easy, but sometimes connecting face-to-face can help two people on either side of a tense topic see eye-to-eye.

Just when it seemed like ESPN was moving away from far-left politics and making changes to return to the sports network’s nonpartisan glory days, “First Take” co-host Max Kellerman made headlines by slamming Tiger Woods’ response to questions about President Trump. With Hill’s exit looming and Beadle now focusing on NBA coverage, as opposed to the news-of-the-day content that consumes “Get Up!,” it seemed like ESPN was actually taking steps to distance itself from politics. “I suspect ESPN’s focus here wasn’t on Olbermann’s left-wing mania, it was on his role at ESPN in the 1990s. “They finally have executives in charge of the business who have realized WokeCenter is bad for ESPN’s brands. Get rid of the people who made that brand toxic.” Travis and other critics of ESPN noticed Pitaro’s changes were making an impact and the network was finally receiving praise for moving away from politics when Kellerman spoke out against Woods. The golf legend said over the weekend that Trump is the president of the United States and should be respected. “You have to respect the office. … To say you must have respect for the office — Tiger, be clear. Now, as opposed to articles praising ESPN for returning to its non-political glory days, the internet is filled with headlines such as, “ESPN host can’t handle Tiger Woods saying ‘you have to respect the office’ of the presidency.” Travis, the frequent ESPN critic who actually complimented the network earlier in the day took to Twitter to offer his thoughts. Tiger Woods said he respects the office of the president & ESPN called him stupid for it,” he wrote.

Hill spoke about her experiences in covering race, sports and culture on The Undefeated with the platform’s editor-in-chief, Kevin Merida. The tweet was followed by tweeted responses from press secretary Sarah Sanders and Trump. Merida asked about her transitions, specifically about what skills were transferable between the mediums. “Everything feels personal in writing, and TV helped me understand it’s not all personal.” Hill said being in the studio every day means being further and further removed from the things one often covers, so returning to writing was a relief. In response to a question about how she finds story topics, Hill said she follows her interests and passions. “I don’t mind jumping into or starting a conversation,” she said. “I have more scrutiny, to the point where I had to Google alert myself,” she said, referring to a notification system that alerts her when her name appears in a post on the internet. She discussed racial stories in response to another question, saying the general avoidance of these stories stems from people’s lack of comfort with addressing their own roles in racism. Conference co-director Michael J. Mooney said it was especially important to bring Hill to speak at the conference this year because of her important work and because she has been under personal attack by those in power. “I think it’s helpful for writers to hear you can make mistakes and it’s OK,” Johnson said.

First Things First co-host Nick Wright has often raised some interesting points in interviews, including how FS1 isn’t a debate network, why it’s worth talking about LeBron James every day, and why his show focuses on elements he, Cris Carter and Jenna Wolfe know well. First, he said he thought some people went after Hill for comments that weren’t about politics, and that he tends to stick to sports himself, but address political issues when they do impact sports: On the ESPN front, I think a lot of the people who have been attacked has been very unfair. I think a lot of that criticism was unfair. Now I do have an obligation to myself, that when Colin Kaepernick is the sports story, I am not going to shade my opinions on it. Beyond that, Wright had some significant thoughts differentiating discussion of race from discussion of politics. I’ll say one more thing on this…talking about race is not talking about politics and that discussion has been hijacked. Talking about equal rights is not political. It should be offensive to people on both sides of the aisle to act like advocating for equal rights is a liberal or conservative position. I think I have a particular level of expertise historically and from my own personal story about those things, I think I am very good at those discussions, better than a lot of people on sports television, so when those discussions come up I embrace them. It’s interesting to hear these kinds of comments from Wright, especially on the Kaepernick and McNair fronts, where others on his network have provided very different takes.

. ESPN anchor Jemele Hill said Saturday that President Trump encouraging NFL owners to fire players for kneeling during the national anthem will only cause more protests. “Just so we're clear: the president's comments will only incite more player protests, not quell them,” Hill said. Trump told a crowd at a rally for Alabama Senate candidate Luther Strange (R) Friday night that NFL players will stop kneeling if people would leave games. "When people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they are playing our great national anthem – the only thing you could do better is if you see it, even if it's one player, leave the stadium," Trump said. "I guarantee things will stop." Trump also said NFL owners should fire players if they refuse to stand during the national anthem. After her tweets, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said ESPN should fire Hill. “That is one of the more outrageous comments that anybody could make and certainly is something that is a fireable offense by ESPN,” Sanders said during a White House press briefing.

Do Politics and Sports Mix?. 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. Do sports and politics mix? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO Sports Desk debate this interesting question. ESPN released a statement suggesting that the company keep sports and politics separate—but how? Riley, you suggested that sports is used as an outlet from real news, but it’ll never be that way in actuality. The pro sports industry is just a reflection of society. Unless somebody shuts the Internet down tomorrow, athletes along with everybody else will continue to have lanes to express themselves. Green: The Internet doesn’t have to be shut down, but athletes as well as sports journalists should make sure they’re as socially aware as possible. Hill did that when she spoke on Trump.

White House Rejects Supremacist Label: “No One Has Done More Than Trump to Prove White People Are Not Superior”. WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Upbraiding the ESPN anchor Jemele Hill for calling Donald Trump a “white supremacist,” the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Wednesday that “no one has done more than President Trump to prove that white people are not superior.” “It’s grossly unfair that Ms. Hill sought to portray Donald Trump as an upholder of white supremacy, when everything he says or does directly undermines that whole concept,” Sanders said. “Anyone who thinks that Donald Trump is on some mission to make white people look good hasn’t been paying attention.” Sanders urged the ESPN anchor to “do her homework” on Trump before making baseless allegations. “Read his tweets,” she said. “Listen to his speeches. If you still think Donald Trump is trying to prove that white people are superior, I tip my hat to you.” Ending on a personal note, Sanders said that she was “a hundred-per-cent sure” that her boss is not a white supremacist. “Donald Trump cannot even spell the word ‘supremacist,’ ” she said.