ESPN suspended SportsCenter co-host Jamele Hill on Monday following a string of tweets criticizing Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. Jones revealed that a new policy within the Cowboys organization would see any player that took a knee during the national anthem suspended. Jones wouldn’t use the word suspension, specifically, but they wouldn’t be allowed to play.
Hill’s comments included pointing out the hypocrisy of Jones soapboxing about the importance of not disrespecting the flag while the Cowboys owner happily employed Greg Hardy after repeated run-ins with the law. While it may not be a perfect comparison, the point being that Jones can put up with paying someone with a history as dark as Hardy’s millions of dollars, but kneeling for the anthem is too far.
Hill also went after Jones’ wallet, telling her followers that the best way to let Jones know that his behavior is unacceptable would be to stop watching, and stop buying merchandise. This put ESPN is an uncomfortable position because you have an ESPN employee telling her followers, in a roundabout way, that they shouldn’t watch their network if the Cowboys are on.
In response to Hill’s Twitter comments, ESPN promptly suspended her for two weeks due to a second violation of their social media policy.
ESPN's Statement on Jemele Hill: pic.twitter.com/JkVoBVz7lv
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 9, 2017
Hill’s first violation came when she tweeted that Donald Trump was a white supremacist. It’s worth noting here that a vast majority of Hill’s co-workers expressed their support for Hill in the aftermath of ESPN’s original ruling. We’re still waiting to find out what they think about her latest suspension.
Jemele Hill’s co-host, Michael Smith, has yet to address ESPN’s decision publicly, but according to The Wrap, ESPN and Smith have come to a mutual agreement that he would sit out for the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter, better known as SC6, for at least one night.
