Jemele Hill’s comments on Twitter about President Donald Trump went about as well as you’d think, with battle lines being drawn on each side of the political spectrum and ESPN releasing a statement addressing the posts. The network said that Hill “recognizes” that the comments calling Trump a “white supremacist” and a “bigot” were “inappropriate” and added that they don’t represent the network’s views.
While ESPN’s statement is likely an attempt to curb any firestorm against the network, there are some calling for her firing despite the factual nature of her comments, with some comparing her comments to those of Curt Schilling and Rush Limbaugh when they were working for ESPN. That said, she also has plenty of supporters online and can now add another name with a target on his back to her corner:
We are with you @jemelehill ✊🏾
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 13, 2017
Kaepernick has faced his own criticism since deciding to kneel for the national anthem while with the San Francisco 49ers, his own protest against racial inequality and police brutality in the United States. It has seemingly cost him a position within the NFL, something that teams haven’t said officially despite the statistics for the players they did sign compared to Kaepernick’s. The writing would seem to be on the wall there, but it hasn’t stopped the former quarterback from standing by his mission and finding support from those still in the league.
His words of support for Jemele Hill just adds to that notion and shows that despite ESPN’s official stance, there are those who feel the same as Hill and feel that she was using her position to speak for them.
