Al Sharpton, others react to ESPN suspending Jemele Hill

ESPN has suspended Jemele Hill for two weeks for what the network deems a second social media violation.

Last month, the co-host of The Six was in the spotlight for her tweets in which she referred to Donald Trump as a white supremacist.

While the network hasnt explained what specifically caused the suspension, Hill tweeted multiple times about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones decision to bench players who kneeled during the anthem, but also advocated that she wasnt calling for an NFL boycott.

"Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines, the network said in a statement Monday afternoon. She previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet. In the aftermath, all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision."

When Hill tweeted about the president, the White House believed her tweets to be a fireable offense.

Social media exploded when the news broke on Monday afternoon.

ESPN's suspension of Jemele Hill is an outrage and should NOT go unanswered. ESPN and advertisers will hear from us!, wrote Reverend Al Sharpton. The civil rights activist later released a statement on his National Action Network website threatening a boycott of NFL advertisers of his own, We consider it outrageous that Jemele Hill was suspended by ESPN. She has the right to tell people that they ought to let advertisers know how they feel, since they are the consumers. While she didnt call for a direct boycott, its not off the table for us in the civil rights community.

espn wants black faces not black minds, the end -- next topic, wrote former ESPN Grantland writer Rembert Browne.

I'm confused, because when Trump said to boycott NFL stuff, it was cool but when Jemele Hill said to do it, it wasn't cool anymore. Weird, wrote college football writer Alex Kirshner.

SportsCenter anchor Cari Champion cryptically asked questions on her Twitter account. Compromise your integrity? Compromise for comfort? Where can you speak or say how you feel? Or is it about how you say it?

Sports illustrated writer Richard Deitsch highlighted a quote from Hill from a conversation they recently had about those in sports media discussing social issues on Twitter.

On the topic of talking politics on Twitter, Hill previously told SI its very important to make the distinction between politics and commentary, information and discussion of social issues. I find that the majority of what comes into my timeline is related to social issues. Nobody is dying to engage in a discussion about repeal and replace, at least not with me. The percentage of people who want to discuss social issues has, however, increased substantially. Everyone is consumed with what's happening in our country right now. I dont tweet a lot about politics. I do tweet more about social issues, which I consider to be issues of morality. Racism isnt politics. Racism is an issue of right and wrong. Tweeting about significant issues that impact marginalized people isnt politics. That's right and wrong. If I had to guess, I would say Ive increased my tweets about social issues about 20%. Ive tried really hard not to let these issues consume my feed, because there are a lot of days where I just want to have fun on Twitter. I want to debate with Power and Insecure fans about what's happening on the show. I want to make jokes and have silly sports arguments, but unfortunately those days feel like they happen less.

The Ringers Editor-At-Large- recently wrote a profile piece on Hill, and recounted something Hill said to him them. More than anything, its very annoying because I have to take the high road. Because theres some times and some days when I want to cuss everybody out. Right? But Im not trying to lose my job over Twitter. Or any social media platform. 140 characters theyre not going to do me in.

Mondays 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenters The Six was replaced by a generic version of the show, as Hills co-host Michael Smith decided not to co-anchor without her.

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Al Sharpton, others react to ESPN suspending Jemele Hill

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