In between tweets about health care and the “failing” New York Times, President Donald Trump weighed in on the suspension of ESPN broadcaster Jemele Hill Tuesday morning.
Hill became a target of the Trump administration after she called the president a “white supremacist” and the most ignorant and offensive president of her lifetime in September. The White House called her comments a “fireable offense.” On Tuesday, Trump added his own insult to Hill’s controversial suspension with a tweet that included a spelling error and a swipe at ESPN’s ratings.
However, according to CNN, there is no proof that a drop in ratings is due to Hill or the National Anthem protests. In fact, CNN attributes the slight decline to customers preferring streaming services over cable bundles.
ESPN suspended the SportsCenter host over tweets she posted Sunday discussing the Dallas Cowboy’s and owner Jerry Jones’ vow to punish players who kneel for the National Anthem.
This was Hill’s second social media infraction. Hill has long been vocal on social media about sports, social justice and politics. While ESPN won’t specify which tweets were the causes of the suspension, it is speculated that her tweets suggesting a boycott of the NFL were the cause. She later clarified that she was not advocating a NFL boycott.
Hill has been with ESPN since 2006. She did not appear on Monday night’s episode of SportsCenter. Her co-host, Michael Smith, also did not appear.
Hill has yet to comment on the suspension.