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Jemele Hill Suspended from ESPN

emele Hill’s two week suspension from ESPN after violating its social media guidelines could potentially put her future career with ESPN in jeopardy.

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The ESPN anchor took to Twitter on Sunday and Monday to release a statement that NFL is placing an “unfair burden,” on players amid reports that team owners would pull players off the field if they kneeled during the national anthem, according to CBS News.

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After the loss the Cowboys faced to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, told reporters that any player who kneeled during the national anthem would be pulled from the game.

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Hill fused her Twitter account with a series of tweets stating that angry fans should boycott Jones’ team advertisers. Hill wrote Sunday, “This play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about [Jones'] statement, boycott his advertisers.” She tweeted again with, “If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don't place the burden squarely on the players."

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The following Monday, Hill clarified her comments on Twitter stating that she is not advocating an NFL boycott but that an unfair burden has been placed on Dallas and Miami players who do not wish to follow anthem directives.

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Hill’s remaining tweets were directed towards upset fans, stating that if they are angry with Jones and Miami Dolphin owner, Stephen Ross, then they shouldn’t be calling the player’s “sellouts,” especially if they are tuning into NFL every Sunday to watch the games.

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According to Fox News, Jones commented on the backlash of players, “taking a knee,” during the national anthem after being asked about Vice President, Mike Pence, who left the game in Indianapolis after several players from the San Francisco 49ers kneeled during the national anthem.

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“I know this, we cannot ... in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,” Jones said. “We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we're clear.”

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Jones's outspoken comment towards the anthem controversy stirred a response from Hill, who believes Jones, “has created a problem for his players, specifically the black ones… If they don't kneel, some will see them as sellouts.”

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This isn’t the first time Hill has taken to Twitter to voice her opinion on social and political issues. In September, ESPN distanced themselves from the anchor when she called President Donald Trump a white supremacist.

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“Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists,” she tweeted.

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Following the Trump tweet last month, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, demanded that Hill be fired from ESPN, responding with, “That's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN.”

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Although she was let off the hook for her first offense towards the President, Hill’s second offense towards the kneeling controversy landed her a two-week suspension from co-anchoring the 6 p.m. ET edition of Sportscenter.

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ESPN’s released a statement on Hill’s suspension which read that she, “previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet,” and that, “all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences.”

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However, it is unclear whether Hill actually broke any policies for political commentary related to sports. According to Think Progress, ESPN has two sets of relevant guidelines for its employees; one on “Social Networking” and one on “Political and Social Issues.”

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The guidelines on social networking, which was issued in Spring of 2011, were conducted for platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. For example, ESPN prohibits employees from breaking news on Twitter. However, several reporters have tweeted breaking news on a daily basis, claiming that this issue is outdated.

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The guidelines on political and social issues, updated in April 2017, “reflect the reality of the world today.” In a statement from ESPN, the guidelines are deemed appropriate for ESPN talent to weigh in on political issues related to sports.

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According to the ESPN Guidenlines,“Outside of ‘hard’ news reporting, commentary related to political or social issues, candidates or officeholders is appropriate on ESPN platforms consistent with these guidelines…The topic should be related to a current issue impacting sports…We should avoid personal attacks and inflammatory rhetoric.”

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ESPN’s vice president of global digital content and the chairman of the company’s internal Editorial Board, Patrick Stigman, stated, “Given the intense interest in the most recent presidential election and the fact subsequent political and social discussions often intersected with the sports world, we found it to be an appropriate time to review our guidelines.”

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ESPN is struggling to hunker down on whether Hill’s comments towards the NFL controversy actually violated its guidelines on political and social issues. However, Hill is expected to return to anchoring after her two-week suspension, as her overall future career with ESPN still remains a fumble.

10/17/2017

By Jacqueline DuMont, Managing Editor

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