The moment that ESPN sided with Trump & Jerry Jones over Jemele Hill it seemed they had made their decision on what they were going to do in the future.
The suspension of Hill maybe the nail in the coffin not just for Jemele, but the SC6 as well.
Here is the report from Sports Illustrated.
Jemele Hill’s two-week suspension is scheduled to end on Oct. 23. The likelihood is she will come to work that day in Bristol, CT. and continue to co-anchor the 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter for the foreseeable future.
But I believe her tenure as a SportsCenter anchor is effectively over. I also think her time as an ESPN employee is down to months rather than years. Hill cannot feel that she has management’s unwavering support given the events of the last month—and ESPN management clearly has limits to the speech it will allow from front-facing talent on social media, and particularly those representing the SportsCenter brand.
Then there is the show itself, dubbed SC6. What Hill and co-host Michael Smith envisioned, what made their chemistry honest and unique on the ESPN2 show His and Hers and their podcasts together, is being slowly chopped away by the addition of segments you see on traditional SportsCenter shows. Multiple people told me last week that there is an effort to bring in ESPN talent as guests with opinions counter to the hosts. If I had to bet, I would bet that at this time next year the 6 p.m. ET slot is either a standard version of SportsCenter or some sort of PTI-extension. I would also bet that Hill is elsewhere.
Jemele wouldn’t be out of work long. She is one of, if not the most high-profile woman in sports media. She is beloved by almost everyone in the industry and a voice that is needed in the space.
ESPN is showing they are very much like Jerry Jones. They will used black faces to put on a front for diversity, but when push comes to shove and those faces become too loud about real black issues they will punish and silence them.
Don’t be surprised if this has a trickle down effect on some of the other black talent at ESPN. They aren’t blind they see what happened to Jemele and know it can easily happen to them if they choose to speak too strongly about any issues they believe in. That is why very few have spoke up strongly against the suspension, because they don’t want to be next, because in the immortal words of Dez Bryant…
“I got a family to feed.”
The next six months to a year will be very interesting at ESPN.
The talent is sort of handcuffed by the things they can say, but as more leave they might be more inclined to speak on how they really feel. I have spoken to many off the record and they are livid, but not much they can do especially the ones lower on the food chain.
It is also possible that ESPN will reverse course and realize how valuable of an asset Jemele Hill is and the error of their ways, but don’t count on it. Bill Simmons was a valuable asset, was let go and he wasn’t going against the President.
Either way don’tt be shocked at anything that happens going forward.
