Jemele Hill speaks onstage during OZY Fest 2018 at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park on July 22, 2018, in New York City. Photo : Matthew Eisman ( Getty Images for Ozy Media ) Jemele Hill, a black woman who remained so while on television, had a rough go of it at ESPN in the fallout of calling Donald Trump, a sho nuff white supremacist, just that. She’s reportedly set to completely sever ties with the company at the beginning of September. Advertisement Hill’s commentary is just too direct for folks who claim to love when folks tell it like it is. For them, being blunt is ok when it comes to Trump spewing alternative facts on immigration and “illegals” but not so much when it comes to black lives and the first amendment . After her slot on the 6 p.m. broadcast of Sports Center with co-host, Michael Smith, was canceled, Hill remained with the network as a columnist at the Undefeated, a sports, race and culture site owned by the company. Variety reports that Hill is believed to have met recently with new ESPN President James Pitaro, whose vision of the network, according to Deadspin, is to “neuter it and lay submissively at the feet of Roger Goodell.” The site said the relationship spiraled in light of Hill’s direct, clear indictment and commentary on sports, culture and politics. Hill ran afoul of ESPN’s constitutional cowardice at least twice in the last year, and that was before Pitaro showed his belly to NFL owners and MAGA chuds on Monday. The first was for using her Twitter account to say something factually true about our senile amoral grifter of a President; and later she was suspended for two weeks for observing that boycotts are an effective form of protest. She remains deeply unpopular with both the “stick to sports” crowd and the “black people are the real racists” crowd—that Venn diagram is nearly a perfect circle—and earlier this summer Fox News spent a whole segment doing a touchdown dance over a wet dream of Hill being fired by ESPN. Her departure will be met by relief from NFL owners and huzzahs from the very worst people on earth. Hopefully she’ll find her way to a role with a company that hasn’t dedicated itself to courting favor with those two hideous groups of people. Advertisement In addition to the Undefeated, Hill was also supposed to contribute to a number of programs on the network: documentaries the E:60 news magazine, and, a “His & Hers” podcast, says Variety. There was no direct comment from Hill’s camp or ESPN.<doc-sep>Detroit native Jemele Hill's long and at times controversial tenure at ESPN is coming to an end, according to multiple national reports. ESPN historian James Miller reported that Hill's time at ESPN will officially end Saturday, and that the parting was "amicable." ESPN is buying out her contract, Miller reported. Hill hasn't commented on the reports, but did take to Twitter on Sunday and humorously posted, "Live look at my mentions," with a GIF of a Dumpster fire. Hill, 42, has been at ESPN since 2006, in a variety of roles. In recent years, she became one of the most prominent personalities at the network, even ascending to the "SportsCenter" co-anchor chair, with her long-time TV partner Michael Smith, for a year, from February 2017 through February of this year. The last year-and-a-half has found Hill in the headlines for other reasons, though, including comments directed at President Trump. Last September, she called Trump a "white supremacist," drawing a strong response from the White House. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Hill's Twitter post a "fireable offense." Hill later apologized for going public with her feelings on Trump, and ESPN called the tweets "inappropriate." She was reprimanded, ESPN said, though specific discipline details never have emerged. Then, in October, Hill stirred up controversy again, in calling for fans to boycott sponsors of the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL over owner Jerry Jones' stance on players kneeling during the national anthem. ESPN suspended her two weeks for those comments. Hill attended Detroit Mumford High School and Michigan State, and covered Michigan State football and basketball for the Detroit Free Press. She left the Free Press for the Orlando Sentinel in 2005, before joining ESPN in 2006. In June, Mumford named its auditorium after Hill. She also was recently in Detroit for the annual National Association of Black Journalists conference. The NABJ named her Journalist of the Year. tpaul@detroitnews.com twitter.com/tonypaul1984<doc-sep>Mike Windle/Getty Images Jemele Hill will leave ESPN after accepting a buyout from the company, Sporting News' Michael McCarthy reported Saturday. According to James Andrew Miller, who co-authored a book detailing the history of ESPN, Hill's departure will become final Sept. 1. Miller described her buyout as "amicable" and a "long time coming." Hill had worked alongside Michael Smith on the 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter before leaving that role and joining The Undefeated in January. ESPN issued a statement last September distancing itself from remarks Hill made about President Donald Trump. Hill had called Trump "a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists" and "the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime." Shortly thereafter, Trump referenced ESPN's general decline in viewership as the trend of cord-cutting has grown: Video Play Button Videos you might like White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also described Hill's tweets as a "fireable offense" during a briefing with reporters. In March, Jimmy Pitaro took over as president of ESPN. Earlier this month, he spoke about his desire to see the company and its employees avoid entering the political fray. "If you ask me is there a false narrative out there, I will tell you ESPN being a political organization is false," Pitaro said, per the Washington Post's Ben Strauss. "I will tell you I have been very, very clear with employees here that it is not our jobs to cover politics, purely."<doc-sep>
Photo : Emma McIntyre ( Getty One week after new president Jimmy Pitaro articulated his bold new vision for the future of ESPN—neuter it and lay submissively at the feet of Roger Goodell—comes a report that Jemele Hill will be leaving the company later this week: James Miller describes the separation as “amicable.” Sporting News rounds out that nugget with a little more detail: The former “SportsCenter” anchor will accept a buyout of the remainder of her contract with the network, said sources. Hill’s deal with ESPN still has at least two years to run and she stands to walk away with millions of dollars from ESPN parent Disney while she pursues other career opportunities, sources said. Hill ran afoul of ESPN’s constitutional cowardice at least twice in the last year, and that was before Pitaro showed his belly to NFL owners and MAGA chuds on Monday. The first was for using her Twitter account to say something factually true about our senile amoral grifter of a President; and later she was suspended for two weeks for observing that boycotts are an effective form of protest. She remains deeply unpopular with both the “stick to sports” crowd and the “black people are the real racists” crowd—that Venn diagram is nearly a perfect circle—and earlier this summer Fox News spent a whole segment doing a touchdown dance over a wet dream of Hill being fired by ESPN. Her departure will be met by relief from NFL owners and huzzahs from the very worst people on earth. Hopefully she’ll find her way to a role with a company that hasn’t dedicated itself to courting favor with those two hideous groups of people.