Michael Smith Sits Out ‘SportsCenter’ Episode After Jemele Hill Suspension

On Monday, ESPN suspended SportsCenter anchor Jemele Hill for two weeks after a series of tweets critical of Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones’ stance on standing for the national anthem—as well as calling for a boycott of Cowboys advertisers. The network said Hill had violated the company’s social media policy.

As you might remember, ESPN seemingly went to bat for Hill last month, after she slammed President Trump on Twitter, calling him a “bigot” and “white supremacist.” That said, there were reports that the network had, at the time, attempted to replace Hill on that evening’s SportsCenter broadcast, but received pushback from her co-anchor Michael Smith, among others.

Smith is clearly a loyal friend and advocate. As The Wrap reported, Smith sat out last night’s SportsCenter broadcast as part of a “mutual” decision between he and the network, but will return on Tuesday.