Jemele Hill has been suspended for 2 weeks for making political statements on social media. * raises eyebrows* * but freedom of speech???*
Hill, who has recently been in the news for calling Mr. Twitter Fingers himself, (President Trump) a “white supremacist” on social media. ESPN responded on Monday 10/09, “she let her colleagues and company down” with the Trump tweet. Which was in response to Trump’s call to action for the NFL to fire anyone who kneels for the national anthem.
However, her most recent Twitter interest is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Jones recently threatened that players who disrespect the flag would not play for his team. “Cowboys have a huge national following,” Hill wrote in one of a series of tweets. “Lot of black & brown folks are Cowboys fans. What if they turned their backs on them?”
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
“In the aftermath, all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision,” said a statement from ESPN.
Before she was suspended, Hill responded Sunday to a Twitter follower who suggested that NFL players would learn a lesson about “getting fired for not doing what your boss requires you to do.” “Because if we did everything the boss said, Americans would still be dying of tuberculosis in factories,” she replied.
As a result of this backlash, many celebrities have commented on Jamele Hill’s suspension and are rallying in support of her.
Protect @jemelehill
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) October 9, 2017
ESPN Faces Boycott After Suspending Jemele Hill-Yep & I'm Gonna Run It #TheResistance #BoycottESPN #ReinstateJemele https://t.co/pA0U1Uj447
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 10, 2017
We stand with Jamele and pose this question why is it that it’s people who rebuke racism that gets silenced and not those who embrace it?