On Monday, ESPN suspended Jemele Hill for two weeks for what they called "a second violation of our social media guidelines."
ESPN brass didn’t specifically identify the violation in question, but the perception is that Hill was suspended for suggesting that NFL fans boycott the Cowboys’ various advertisers after owner Jerry Jones revealed that he would bench any Dallas players who decided to kneel during the national anthem in protest.
The suspension comes about a month after Hill made waves on social media for referring to Donald Trump as a "white supremacist"—among other things—on Twitter.
In light of her suspension, Hill has received quite a bit of support from those both inside and outside of the ESPN family. Hill's colleagues and others have said that they stand by her side and don’t think it’s fair that she’s being penalized by ESPN for speaking her mind on social media.
One person who is definitely not in Hill’s corner, though, is the President. In September, Trump demanded that ESPN apologize for Hill’s comments about him. It was a demand that fell on deaf ears as no apology was ever given. But that didn’t stop Trump from circling back around and taking aim at Hill and ESPN again in light of the most recent controversy involving the SportsCenter anchor.
Early Tuesday morning, Trump took to—what else?—Twitter to take a shot at Hill and mentioned ESPN’s ratings that have, according to Trump, "tanked" with Hill at the helm of one of the network’s most important shows.
Trump also continued his seemingly never-ending crusade against the NFL on Tuesday by sending out this tweet that is sure to raise a few eyebrows at the league offices.
And both of these tweets came just eight hours after Trump saluted Jerry Jones for demanding that his players stand for the national anthem.
Trump did tweet about others things on Tuesday morning, too, like immigration and healthcare. But it’s baffling to see him continue to spend so much time going after Hill on social media, especially when you consider that she has basically been told that she’s no longer allowed to speak her mind when it comes to her thoughts on the President.
