In what many predict will be a multi-million dollar deal, Disney and ESPN announced Jemele Hill will be producing a Colin Kaepeernick documentary to air on ESPN. However, neither Disney nor ESPN have responded to a tweet posted by Hill on Sunday, claiming all Donald Trump voters are racist.
“If you vote for Donald Trump, you are a racist. You have no wiggle room.”
If you vote for Donald Trump, you are a racist. You have no wiggle room.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) July 19, 2020
Neither ESPN or Disney have responded to The Federalist’s request for comment on Hill’s tweet.
Outkick Sports journalist, Clay Travis, pointed out on Twitter, “What would @espn do if one of their employees called all Biden voters racist? They’d be fired immediately. Here’s the truth, if you aren’t a far left wing loon you have no right to political opinions at ESPN. They don’t respect most of their TV audience”
What would @espn do if one of their employees called all Biden voters racist? They’d be fired immediately. Here’s the truth, if you aren’t a far left wing loon you have no right to political opinions at ESPN. They don’t respect most of their TV audience: https://t.co/1w3XG7sQrs
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 20, 2020
Three years ago Hill called Trump a “white supremacist.” At the time ESPN addressed Hill’s comments saying they were “inappropriate” and “do not represent the position of ESPN”.
ESPN Statement on Jemele Hill: pic.twitter.com/3kfexjx9zQ
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 12, 2017
Interestingly, in 2017, Hill admitted that her own mother voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. No word on whether she believes her mother, who is also African-American, is racist.
yes, my mother voted for trump. she's been voting republican since post bill clinton
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) March 19, 2017
Hill’s comments come on the heels of a recent ESPN scandal which resulted in a company statement and an apology from the long-time ESPN columnist, Adrian Wojnarowski. In response to an emailed press release from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, questioning the NBA’s complicity in the communist Chinese government’s persecution of Hong Kong’s democracy freedom fighters, Wojnarowski replied to the Senator,“F**k you”.
Hawley subsequently published Wojnarowski’s profane response on his twitter. While ESPN denounced Wojnarowski’s email response, many of his fellow employees supported and publicly praised Wojnarowksi for his comments, revealing much about the company’s Chinese apologist culture.
ESPN and Disney’s failure to address Hill’s tweet may continue to marginalize sports consumers who want it to be more inclusive and prefer for players and sports programming to be less politicized.
As one Twitter user put it, “@ESPN shows once again they care more about their social justice causes than its viewership. Plain and simple. Otherwise, why give left-wing lunatics like @jemelehill a platform.”
