OPINION: ESPN should have fired Jemele Hill for doing the same thing as Curt Schilling
Jemele Hill, co-host of ESPN’s SportsCenter, is a respected sports journalist. On her personal Twitter account, she tweeted inflammatory comments about the President of the United States.
She tweeted “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists,” and “Donald Trump is a bigot. Glad you could live with voting for him. I couldn't, because I cared about more than just myself.”
Her tweets set off a firestorm between ESPN, its viewers and the White House. People expressed support, while others were angered by her comments, saying she should be fired.
It’s strange because she still has a job after saying inappropriate statements online, whereas Curt Schilling does not for doing the exact same thing.
After the white supremacist riots in Charlottesville, American citizens were upset because President Donald Trump didn’t explicitly condemn the white supremacists. In response, Hill went to Twitter to call Trump a white supremacist.
ESPN has not fired Hill. They have proved they do not care about her comments. Hill should have been fired for calling him a white supremacist.
This would never have been a controversy should they have not chosen to fire Curt Schilling.
In April 2016, Schilling, a baseball analyst and commentator for ESPN, was fired because of his comments on social media. He shared a Facebook post agreeing with North Carolina’s law banning transgender people from using the bathrooms of their choice.
Schilling posted on Facebook, “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.”
I think it was right to fire Schilling. He is a celebrity whose words carry weight and did cause harm to a large group of people in our country.
He stated his opinion online while he wasn’t acting as a representative of ESPN, just like Hill.
ESPN said Schillings comments were unacceptable.
He was fired immediately.
What about Hill?
She did the exact same thing as Schilling; she said something online that was seen by a large number of people to be inappropriate and unacceptable. If ESPN really cared about inappropriate comments, she would have been fired.
There should be an equal punishment for their equal actions.
Why does Hill still have her job? Is it because she said something agreeable to the liberal mentality of ESPN? Is it because ESPN does not have an idea of equal punishment?
Hill will continue her work co-hosting SportsCenter, like nothing ever happened. Nothing but a slap on the wrist. No suspension, no loss of pay, nothing.
If ESPN had any moral standards Hill would be fired. She has now shown every commentator on ESPN they she can say whatever they want that is in line with ESPN’s liberal worldview.
This is the new standard of ESPN and television. Don’t upset the liberal base.
