Jemele Hill, an ESPN commentator, apologized for her controversial remarks on Wednesday
ESPN host Jemele Hill has apologized for painting the sports network in an ‘unfair light’ with her controversial remarks about President Donald Trump.
She said in a statement that comments in which she called Trump a ‘white supremacist’ and ‘bigot’ were her ‘personal beliefs’, and apologized for bringing ESPN into the issue.
‘My comments on Twitter expressed my personal beliefs,’ she said in a statement she posted on Twitter on Wednesday. ‘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.’
On Wednesday, during a White House briefing on hurricane relief, Sanders said she thought Hill’s ‘outrageous’ remarks should be a ‘fireable offense’.
Hill had tweeted on Monday that Trump is a ‘bigot’ and a ‘white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/other white supremacists.’
She also called him ‘unqualified and unfit to be president’ and said that ‘if he were not white, he would never have been elected’.
Hill’s statement was posted after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has called for her firing .
‘I’m not sure if he’s aware but I think that’s one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make,’ Sanders replied.
‘And certainly is something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN.’
The channel itself distanced itself from the host’s remarks on Tuesday when its ESPN PR Twitter account tweeted: ‘The comments on Twitter Jemele Hill regarding the president do not represent the position of ESPN.
‘We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate.’
The furor kicked off while Hill was in a conversation regarding ‘racist’ singer Kid Rock’s potential Senate run.
Hill called President Trump ‘a white supremacist’ in a social media rant on Monday, something that Sanders called ‘outrageous’ and a fireable offense
She said Trump is ‘unqualified and ‘unfit’ for the role presidency
The comments, which have since been deleted, received backlash and praise
ESPN PR addressed the comments on Tuesday as ‘inappropriate’
She transferred the conversation over to the President, writing in fiery tweets: ‘Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
‘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.
‘Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period.’
She also called him a ‘bigot,’ and wrote: ‘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.’
Just weeks ago, Hill was slammed for comparing police officers to the ‘slave patrols’ that enforced discipline on pre-Civil War plantations.
Hill made the remarks in late July on Twitter again, echoing comments made by the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick.
Hill was lamenting that Kaepernick, who has struggled to find a new contract after making repeated headlines for his protests against the treatment of non-whites, had not been signed by the Baltimore Ravens.
Hill made more remarks in late July on Twitter, echoing comments made by the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick
The Ravens, looking for a passer after quarterback Joe Flacco suffered a back injury, instead signed complete unknown David Olson, who completed three passes in college and most recently played arena football in Kansas City.
‘Oh and ICYMI, the Ravens signed a dude who quit football to be a realtor and played in 2 games in college over a Super Bowl QB,’ Hill tweeted.
She was referring to Kaepernick’s starting quarterback role in the 2013 season, in which the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to the Seattle Seahawks.
‘I feel like it’s been forgotten that he basically called (all) cops ‘slave patrol.’ I mean, that’s pretty inflammatory,’ responded Nathanael Johnson, offering a possible rationale for the Raven’s decision.
In June, Kaepernick, responding to the jury verdict that acquitted the police officer who shot Philando Castile, posted a picture that showed similarly shaped badges reading ‘Runaway Slave Patrol’ and ‘Police Officer’.
Slave patrols were groups of white men who used force and violence to impose discipline on the black slave populations of antebellum plantations in the southern states.
‘Inflammatory, but historically accurate,’ Hill responded to Johnson’s comment, endorsing the comparison.
Johnson replied: ‘There’s historically truth there, yes … but is it fair to say now to all the cops, esp when many minorities serve?’
Amid subscriber losses, ESPN has increasingly been accused of pushing a ‘liberal’ political agenda, accusations Hill has often been at the center of.
She responded to these claims at a June conference in Manhattan.
‘Sports have always been political,’ Hill said in remarks reported by Yahoo Finance.
Hill said that athletes often push political agendas, ‘dragging’ sports journalists who cover them along with them.
She also implied that complaints over the alleged liberal bent were really racist sentiment in disguise.
‘As you see more ethnic diversity, then all of a sudden ESPN is too liberal,’ she said. ‘So I wonder, when people say that, what they’re really saying.’