In case you’ve been living under a rock this past week and missed the news, Jemele Hill of ESPN’s SC:6 made national headlines earlier this week when she made some controversial comments about President Trump and him being a white supremacist. “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists,” she tweeted out.
Although what she says is nothing new to our ears and pretty accurate if we’re being honest, there’s been severe backlash at Jemele for her comments. ESPN made a statement on her behalf the other day, saying they don’t condone her views.
"The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN. We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate,” ESPN stated on Tuesday.
Then on Wednesday, the White House decided to chime in and address the issue by adding that her comments were a “fireable” offense. "I'm not sure he's aware [Donald Trump] but I think that's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN,” Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said yesterday.
But now three days after the initial tweets were made, we finally get to hear from Jemele herself. On Wednesday night, the Sportcenter co-host took to her social media outlets to address “the elephant in the room.” While she regretted the picture she painted for ESPN publicly, she did stick by her comments and say it was her own personal belief.
“My comments on Twitter expressed my personal belief. My regret is that my comments and the public way I made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company and my colleagues remain unconditional.”
Jemele has been facing a lot of scrutiny over the past 72 hours, but she’s also had some supporters as well. “Former” NFL quarterback & activist, Colin Kaepernick, voiced his opinion and said he had her back, as well as Dwayne Wade, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Gabriel Union and more. Read those tweets here.
Check out Jemele’s response (below) and let us know your thoughts on the matter. Do you agree with Jemele’s comments? Should she get fired?
