For years, whenever complaints about ESPN being “too political” came up, anchors Jemele Hill and Michael Smith were pointed to as the primary culprits. Their race was always the subtext, though no one—least of all ESPN—seemed to want to call attention to it.
A year ago, a line in a piece from Saki Benibo—an assertion also articulated a year before in a tweet from Mela Machinko—inspired me to write something of my own based on that statement. The result (“Straight Black Men Are The White People Of Black People”) was my most read VSB piece of 2017.
Well, that didn’t take long. One of the realest to ever talk about sports, a must-follow on Twitter, and newly liberated fuckboy uncoverer, Jemele Hill, had barely stepped her foot off of ESPN’s campus before it was announced that her next gig will be narrating LeBron James’ basketball documentary Shut Up and Dribble.
Jemele Hill, a black woman who remained so while on television, had a rough go of it at ESPN in the fallout of calling Donald Trump, a sho nuff white supremacist, just that. She’s reportedly set to completely sever ties with the company at the beginning of September.
Jemele Hill was recently named the 2018 Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists, and Fox & Friends tried to come for her. Surprise, surprise.
Jemele Hill, senior correspondent and columnist for ESPN’s The Undefeated, has been selected as the 2018 Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.
I won’t lie—It didn’t sit well with me when ESPN sports personality Jemele Hill issued a statement saying she “deserved that suspension” following the social media backlash over her controversial tweets about President Donald Trump and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. I absolutely get that jobs are scarce and nice…
Jemele Hill is switching gears in her career, leaving her position as anchor on ESPN’s SportsCenter to join the staff of The Undefeated, an ESPN-owned website that focuses on the intersection of sports, race and culture, as well as take on additional assignments.
1. Donald Trump’s Tumultuous First Year in Office
2. Sexual Harassment Charges Bring Down Powerful
3. ‘Suspension’ of Roland Martin’s ‘NewsOne Now’
4. FCC Aligns Itself With Big Media
5. The Numbers
6. Jemele Hill Saga Prompts Warnings About Twitter
7. Ebony’s New Ownership Disappoints
8. Investigative Reporting Gets a Boost
…
Jemele Hill’s name has been hashtagged, dragged and praised heavily this year, and here at The Root, we honor her for her contributions to journalism. As a black female sports journalist, Hill realizes how black athletes are perceived, and she’s bringing that to the table when she discusses them on the air.
The Root 100 honoree Michael Smith breaks down what people really mean when they tell him and his co-host, Jemele Hill, to “stick to sports.” Watch above.
When now-former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee to bring attention to injustice, he may have lost his career simply by speaking out.
As soon as word came that a black woman would be the presiding judge for the Paul Manafort indictment, I braced myself for what is surely to come: pure fuckery—especially from the president and the conservative press.
Jemele Hill doesn’t have any hard feelings toward ESPN after the company gave her a two-week suspension for violating its social media rules.
Stop. Before you object to my use of the word “slave,” let us be clear: I do not mean “slave” in the way you are thinking.
