ESPN has suspended SportsCenter Anchor Jemele Hill for two weeks for violating the company’s social media policy. Previously Hill was under fire for calling President Trump a white supremacist on Twitter. At the time, no action was taken after Bob Iger and ESPN executives felts that the context of her comments should be taken into account.
While ESPN did not mention which tweet was the source of the violation, it is suspected to be regarding her recent tweets about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stating that any player that disrespects the flag will not play.
ESPN’s statement was this: “Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines. She previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet. In the aftermath, all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.”
UPDATE: President Trump weighed in on Jemele Hill and ESPN on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/917701841466593280
There is no question that ESPN has seen ratings erosion as more households “cut the cord” or never sign up for cable service. The 6 o’clock SportsCenter has recently be down around 20% when compared to 2016 ratings with ESPN’s primetime ratings being down around 9% compared to the prior year. ESPN has seen a recent upswing in ratings implying that the recent controversy has not had a significant impact in viewership.