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*ESPN’s Jemele Hill gave her first interview since leaving “SportsCenter” with Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” and she explained that her move to the network’s The Undefeated website was “definitely, 100 percent, my choice”
You recall how outrage erupted online over Hill’s tweets calling Donald Trump “a white supremacist,” “a bigot” and “unqualified and unfit to be president.” After being reminded of ESPN’s social media policies, Hill then suggested fans upset with how NFL owners respond to player protests during the national anthem should consider sponsor boycotts.
As noted by the Chicago Tribune, the Trump tweets brought calls for Hill’s dismissal from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Hill apologized for not making it clear she didn’t represent ESPN.
She told Sharpton of the departure, via NBC:
“This was definitely, 100 percent, my choice. I approached my superiors about making a change because — and maybe a lot of people probably didn’t know this, but I spent the majority of my career in print journalism. ESPN hired me, in 2006, to be a print columnist and so I often, you know, wrote commentary.”
Hill, who is expected to contribute on several ESPN programs, continued: “Especially about issues revolving around race and sports, and so The Undefeated is a natural home for me. Given that it’s a site about the intersection between sports, African Americans, race, culture, it mixes all those things that I think are even more vital, now, to discuss and I wanted to do it on a platform that was deeply aligned with who as I was as a person,” she said.
Scroll up to watch the segment.
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Adding, “I respect a lot of the great journalists, the color that they have at this site and just so many of those in charge of it. So, it was just really an opportunity for me to do great journalism and the Sports Center is the legacy brand at ESPN, I had a great year doing the show.
“But, it was not a fit for me because ultimately I had a lot of things that I really wanted to say and wanted to express, and the Sports Center vehicle is not necessarily set up for that. So, I wanted to be on a property that was.”
Hill also told Sharpton that she wasn’t surprised that Trump’s State of the Union address alluded to protests by players during the anthem.
“I think this is going to be probably a constant thing for the president because it’s a very easy dog whistle,” Hill said. “It’s low hanging fruit. It’s what I like to call ‘racial pornography’ because it’s a way to stoke his base.
“In a weird way, I think it’s kind of weirdly brilliant because he has been able to hijack the entire conversation and to make this about patriotism. And, really, if anybody knew just even the smallest bit of American history, they would understand that what the players have chosen to do is the most patriotic thing that you could, and Colin Kaepernick, who this conversation started with, and still is very much the foundation of this conversation.”
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