ESPN suspended SportsCenter host Jemele Hill for two weeks after she violated the network’s social media guidelines. The tweet that triggered the suspension read, “Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ’s statement, boycott his advertisers.” JJ refers to Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who said yesterday that if players are “disrespecting the flag then we won’t play.”
In a statement, ESPN said, “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 actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.”
iMediaEthics asked ESPN if the suspension would be paid or unpaid, but ESPN declined to comment. iMediaEthics has also tweeted Hill.
Last month, Hill’s tweets calling Pres. Donald Trump a white supremacist and a bigot prompted a great deal of controversy. ESPN distanced itself from Hill’s tweets and said it discussed them with her, but didn’t say at the time if she was disciplined. The network’s guidelines, updated earlier this year, stated ESPN employees working in news couldn’t tweet about “political or social issues, candidates or office holders.” ESPN public editor Jim Brady weighed in on Hill’s tweets then, calling them an “error in judgement,” arguing that calling Trump a white supremacist is an “opinion”
UPDATED 4:42 PM EST: With the tweet that triggered the suspension and more info