Jemele Hill

The journalist and former coanchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter starts a new chapter.

- Sophie Brickman

On September 13, 2017, Jemele Hill found herself among the growing list of journalists targeted by President Donald Trump and the White House. The reason: Hill, an anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter at the time, had tweeted criticism of Trump, calling him a white supremacist. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Hill’s tweet “a fireable offense.” ESPN issued a statement that it did not share its anchor’s views. “With Jemele Hill at the mike, it’s no wonder ESPN’s ratings have tanked.…” Trump tweeted. Debate raged about whether sportscasters should be allowed to address politics, even in a climate that saw Colin Kaepernick and other athletes protesting the national anthem. A year later, after 12 years with the company, Hill amicably parted ways with ESPN.

Born in Detroit and a graduate of Michigan State University, Hill started her career as a cub reporter for Raleigh’s The News & Observer and then the Detroit Free Press. She spent almost a decade in local newspapers before joining ESPN, working her way up from columnist to podcaster to coanchor of SportsCenter, where she and Michael Smith broke the mold of the sports network’s flagship show by discussing current events.