Sportscaster Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks by ESPN for what the network is calling a "violation of social media guidelines."
ESPN's PR department broke the news in a tweet on Monday.
ESPN's Statement on Jemele Hill: pic.twitter.com/JkVoBVz7lv
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 9, 2017
"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 action would have consequences. Hence this decision," ESPN's statement read.
ESPN declined to specify which tweets Hill was being suspended for, though she suggested fans upset with Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones' anthem protest policy boycott Cowboys' advertisers.
This play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ's statement, boycott his advertisers. https://t.co/LFXJ9YQe74
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
Hill later clarified that she was not advocating a boycott.
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.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
Hill, the host of ESPN's 6 p.m. SportsCenter along with Michael Smith, was part of a national controversy last month when she tweeted that President Donald Trump was a "white supremacist who largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists." She was not suspended for that tweet, though it did elicit a response from President Trump.
ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
