ESPN Suspends Jemele Hill Over New Tweets On Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Threat To Bench Players
About two weeks after Jemele Hill said “I probably need to take some classes about how to exercise better self-control on Twitter. Lesson learned” ESPN has suspended its program host for new tweets suggesting her followers boycott advertisers of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. She made the suggestion in response to Jones’ threaten to bench any player who takes a knee during the national anthem.
“Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines,” the network said. “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 actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.”
Here are her tweets:
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
If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don't place the burden squarely on the players. https://t.co/Gc48kchkuv
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
About a month ago, the ESPN host took to Twitter to respond to the White House’s criticism about her comments on Donald Trump. Hill had not minced words about the former Celebrity Apprentice host, calling him “ignorant” and saying his rise was a “direct result of white supremacy.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders fired back saying that her comments were outrageous and said that she should lose her job. ESPN also released a statement saying that they had addressed the issues with Hill and that she knew her actions were inappropriate.
Back then, Hill responded to the White House comments on Twitter saying, “My comments on Twitter expressed my personal beliefes. My regret is that my comments and the public way I made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company and my colleagues remains unconditional.”
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