ESPN issued a meek statement on Tuesday in response to Jemele Hill, one of the network’s anchors, calling President Trump and his supporters “white supremacists.”
“The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN,” the network said in a statement. “We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate.”
Ms. Hill posted a series of tweets Monday evening taking aim at Mr. Trump and his voter base, calling the president a “white supremacist” and saying his movement is a “direct result of white supremacy.”
Donald Trump is a bigot. Glad you could live with voting for him. I couldn’t, because I cared about more than just myself
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 12, 2017
He is unqualified and unfit to be president. He is not a leader. And if he were not white, he never would have been elected
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 12, 2017
He has surrounded himself with white supremacists — no they are not “alt right” — and you want me to believe he isn’t a white supremacist?
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
The height of white privilege is being able to ✌🏾ignore✌🏾his white supremacy, because it’s of no threat to you. Well, it’s a threat to me.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
The tweets had not been deleted as of Tuesday afternoon.
Ms. Hill is the co-anchor of “SC6,” a 6 p.m. version of SportsCenter, along with Michael Smith.
In the past, ESPN has shown a willingness to punish employees who have made controversial statements.
Most notably, baseball analyst Curt Schilling was fired last year for mocking transgenderism and the movement to regulate intimate facilities on the basis of gender identity, rather than biological sex.
His remarks came less than a year after ESPN presented Caitlyn Jenner with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYs.
Mr. Schilling had previously been suspended by the network for comparing radical Islam to Nazism.
And in 2011, ESPN yanked the song “Are you ready for some football?” from “Monday Night Football” broadcasts after country singer Hank Williams Jr. compared then-President Obama to Adolf Hitler.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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