ESPN just announced that SportsCenter host Jemele Hill has been suspended two weeks for violating the company’s social media guidelines.
According to ESPN spokesperson Josh Krulewitz, Hill was suspended for sending tweets about a potential boycott of companies that advertise with the Dallas Cowboys.
If ESPN really believes a tweet noting that boycotts work is worth a two-week suspension, they should be ashamed of themselves. Not only was it sent in the context of a much longer discussion about Jerry Jones’s promise to bench any players that are caught “disrespecting the flag,” it’s not even a direct call for a boycott. It’s merely a suggestion that if anyone is truly offended by Jones’s comments, they have the option of voicing their displeasure by not buying products from companies that advertise with the Cowboys. Hill even went out of her way to say she wasn’t directly advocating for any boycott:
But, of course, here’s where ESPN the broadcast partner overpowers ESPN the newsgathering organization. And if they can’t maintain a wall between the two, their ability to be the latter is severely called into question.
This is now the second time in a month that ESPN has fallen on its face while trying to discipline one of its biggest personalities for daring to talk politics on Twitter. Meanwhile, the goddamn vice president of the United States is out here staging a political stunt at a Colts game.