Former ESPN host Jemele Hill explained recently that she did not think calling President Donald Trump a “white supremacist” would have gotten the coverage that it did, explaining that she thought that sentiment was a commonly held belief.
Last September, Hill tweeted, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.”
She opened up about that tweet and the significant backlash on the premiere episode of Dan Le Batard’s new podcast, “South Beach Sessions.”
“I thought I was saying water is wet,” Hill stated. “I didn’t even think it was controversial.”
LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 23: Jemele Hill speaks onstage at the Genius Talks sponsored by AT&T during the 2018 BET Experience at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for BET)
“I was in the middle of a Twitter conversation, I was replying to somebody. If I was really trying to make a bold statement, I would have added the damn president. I didn’t, I was just talking casually with somebody,” she continued. “That’s what is so crazy. I got famous for saying something that wasn’t original. It wasn’t new. It was not breaking news. I thought we all decided this after Charlottesville.”
Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
Le Batard’s podcast was released earlier this month, but Hill’s comments only gained notoriety in recent days.
While ESPN apparently opted not to punish Hill for her comments about the president, she was suspended a short time later for calling on people to boycott the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL. (RELATED: ESPN Suspends Jemele Hill For Two Weeks)
Her tenure at the network ended earlier this fall.