ESPN Suspends Host Jemele Hill Over Tweets Calling For A Boycott Of NFL Sponsors | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The press release was sent to me by Ben Shapiro, who represents the Daily Wire, and since this is the most topical news event of the day, it should be published on BCN.

    By Emily Zanotti

Anchor once called President Donald Trump a "white supremacist."

    ESPN says they've suspended anchor Jemele Hill for a second violation of company social media policy, after Hill tweeted what appeared to be a call to boycott National Football League sponsors.

    Sunday night, Hill took to social media to express her disgust at Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who told his players that they would find themselves warming the bench if they failed to stand for the national anthem.

    Hill claimed Jones "has created a problem for his players, specifically the black ones. ... If they don't kneel, some will see them as sellouts."

    "By drawing a line in the sand, Jerry put his players under more scrutiny and threw them under the bus. ... If the rationale behind JJ's stance is keeping the fanbase happy, make him see that he is underestimated how all of his fanbase feels," she went on.

    "Change happens when advertisers are impacted," Hill wrote, finally, to her 750,000 followers. "If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers." She also named names, listing several of the National Football League's biggest sponsors, including AT&T, Bank of America, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Ford Motors, MillerCoors and Pepsi.

    ESPN, of course, benefits from their relationship with the NFL (heck, without the NFL, ESPN wouldn't have a whole lot to talk about). When Hill tweeted that viewers should boycott big name companies that lend their support to televised football games, she was, essentially, attacking her own company - and her own livelihood.

    Hill tried to backtrack Monday morning, tweeting, "Just so we're clear: I'm not advocating a NFL boycott. But an unfair burden has been put on players in Dallas & Miami w/ anthem directives." But the damage was already done (the list of advertisers, for example, was a little obvious). ESPN announced Monday afternoon that Hill would be taking an unscheduled, unpaid vacation while she considers her actions.

    Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines. She previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet. In the aftermath, all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.

    This isn't the first time ESPN has had trouble with Jemele Hill. On September 11, Hill called President Donald Trump a "white supremacist who has surrounded himself with other white supremacists," and labeled the president a "bigot," "ignorant" and "offensive," and said Trump was "unqualified and unfit." "If he were not white, he never would have been elected," she added at the end of her rant.

    ESPN took no action against Hill at the time, though Hill did follow up with an essay in The Undefeated apologizing for her rant and claiming that Twitter was not the appropriate venue for her airing of grievances. She didn't learn however, and prompted to action Sunday night, made the same mistake - and this time, having struck at her own network's bottom line rather than just a public figure, she faced real consequences.