ESPN Sticks Up for Jemele Hill, Accepts Twitter Apology

Just a handful of days after SportsCenter host Jemele Hill tweeted a sextet of slanderous comments about President Trump—and ESPN, tail firmly between its legs, apologized—she has tweeted her own “apology,” in her words, “to address the elephant in the room”:

So, to address the elephant in the room … #Facts pic.twitter.com/RTrIDD87ut

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 14, 2017

We put quotes around “apology,” because if you were hoping for a big mea culpa and groveling at the feet of Trump, this is not your tweet. Hill is clearly directing it at her employer, not the president, noting additionally, that “My comments on Twitter expressed my personal beliefs.”

Shortly after Hill’s tweet, ESPN released its own statement, going to bat for the SportsCenter host: “Jemele has a right to her personal opinions, but not to publicly share them on a platform that implies that she was in any way speaking on behalf of ESPN. She has acknowledged that her tweets crossed that line and has apologized for doing so. We accept her apology.”

Hill’s original tweet—which sparked some racist, troll-y vitriol in and of itself—was about a story published by The Hill, entitled “Kid Rock accuses media of labeling him a racist, says he loves black people in letter teasing Senate bid.” Her tweet included a link to the article, preceded by a rather contentious opinion: “[Kid Rock] loves black people so much that he pandered to racists by using a flag that unquestionably stands for dehumanizing black people.”

At 4:57 p.m., Hill began by defending her tweet in the @-replies section, but then disappeared from the thread, only to reappear approximately three hours later to tweet the six @-replies that got her in hot water with ESPN—and even led White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to call for Hill’s job (ESPN appears not to be answering the call).

Some prominent verified Twitter accounts have come out on Hill’s side, tweeting their support (OK, we guess Tomi Lahren’s isn’t exactly a tweet of support, but at least the Fox Newser didn’t call for Hill’s head. That’s got to count for something, right?)

.@jemelehill is sharp. Speaks her mind and never has to “get back to you on that.” We’re lucky she’s on TV.

— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) September 14, 2017

I am not calling for @jemelehill to be fired. Simply pointing out the lovely double standard @espn operates on ??

— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) September 13, 2017