On Monday, less than a month after ESPN reprimanded Jemele Hill for her tweets about Donald Trump, the network suspended the host two weeks for suggesting fans boycott Dallas Cowboys advertisers.
Immediately after ESPN announced the punishment, many prominent voices within sports media reacted, often strongly. Most who have weighed in are not exactly thrilled to see Hill suspended.
The most notable reaction came from Hill’s SC6 co-host Michael Smith, who will sit out the next show in what was described to The Wrap as a “mutual” decision with ESPN. He will reportedly return to the air Tuesday.
Though the majority of ESPN personalities seem to be sitting this one out, anchors Lindsay Czarniak and Cari Champion criticized their company’s decision.
Compromise your integrity? Compromise for comfort?Where can you speak or say how you feel? Or is it about how you say it?
— Cari Champion (@CariChampion) October 9, 2017
Update: It turns out Czarniak no longer works for ESPN.
Some former ESPNers chimed in with criticism as well. Ex-anchor Robert Flores suggested that the suspension of Hill showed how ESPN values money over everything and draws a line at going after advertisers.
Bill Simmons seemed to take a shot at ESPN, though he veiled it just enough that we can’t quite say for sure.
And of course plenty of others in and around sports media offered their two cents.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is an unethical creep
SportsCenter host Jemele Hill speaks the truth
ESPN picking bottom line over what's right
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) October 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/JulieDiCaro/status/917494607918837760
https://twitter.com/alex_kirshner/status/917472246150696960
https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/917472597629177856
The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis shared a quote from Hill in which she said she didn’t want to get fired over Twitter.
ESPN guru Jim Miller suggested that if ESPN can’t abide by a SportsCenter host sharing politics-adjacent opinions on social media, it needs to find a new role for Hill.
And finally, in case you thought maybe the Hill saga was due to die down a bit, Rev. Al Sharpton has gotten involved.
Time will tell where this story goes from here, but the decision to suspend Hill over her tweets have been and will continue to be incredibly polarizing.