It’s been about two weeks since Jemele Hill was suspended by ESPN for what they say were repeated violations of their social media policy. Shortly before her scheduled return to the airwaves on Monday (Oct. 23), the personality and journalist reflected on what happened in an interview with TMZ.
Hill said she “deserved a suspension” for her initial tweets that called Donald Trump a white supremacist. “I violated the policy. Going forward we’ll be in a good, healthy place.”
While the tweets about Trump were what initially got her in hot water with ESPN, the network kept her on the air when her co-host Michael Smith refused to host the show without her, and a pair of other black ESPN personalities refused to take their place. Hill wasn’t suspended until later, when she tweeted that fans who were upset with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones should boycott the team’s advertisers instead of demanding for players to kneel for the national anthem and accept what Jones promised would be the punishment for doing so.
During her two-week suspension, a groundswell of fans, including celebrities like J. Cole, Common and filmmaker Ava Duvernay, used social media to show their support of Hill, using the hashtag #IStandWithJemele.
Despite what appeared to be an illustration of a media conglomerate putting a muffle on one of its premier talents, Jemele Hill said she’s in a good space with ESPN.
“I don’t feel suppressed. I love ESPN as much as ever,” Hill said in the interview. I am okay. I feel good.”
Hill also sent out some tweets Monday morning, her first since her suspension. She said she was “sitting on a few hot takes, to say the least,” and that she was thankful for everyone who stood by her. “Trust me, you did not do so in vain,” she wrote.