Mediaboss Marketing

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.

Here is the original post:
Al Sharpton, others react to ESPN suspending Jemele Hill

Rev. Al Sharpton explains why Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' decision to make players stand for the national anthem "smacks of a plantation mentality." USA TODAY Sports

Jemele Hill of ESPN in Houston on Feb. 3, 2017.(Photo: John Salangsang, Invision/AP)

Rev. Al Sharpton said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hasaplantation mentality in a news conference Tuesdaywhere he called forESPN to reinstate anchor Jemele Hill, who wassuspendedtwo weeks for violatingthe companys social media policy.

We found the suspension of Jemele Hill to be outrageous at best and insulting in fact, Sharpton said outside's ESPN's offices in New York. "To suspend someone for tweeting an analysis of what Jerry Jones did to act as though somehow desecrates the name of the company seems to us to be a bridge too far."

Hill, who last month rankled ESPN execs and others over a tweet where she called President Trumpa white supremacist," was suspended Monday for writing on Twitter that people shouldput pressure on the Cowboys by "not patronizing" the team's advertisers.

Jones has stepped up his criticism in recent days of players' national anthem protests meant to draw attention to racial inequality and has pledged tobenchplayers who refuse to stand during The Star-Spangled Banner.

"Jerry Jones' decision in many ways smacks of a plantation mentality," Sharpton said.

Reverend Al Sharpton spoke with media on Tuesday and asked if ESPN suspended Jemele Hill due to pressure from President Trump's administration. USA TODAY Sports

Rashad Robinson, executive director of the racial justice organizationColor Of Change, called ESPN's suspension of Hill "aflagrant suppression of black voices in sports" in a statement Tuesday.

"ESPN is happy to stand with enablers of racism and sexism, but dare speak out against these issues and you're in trouble,"Robinson said."They seek to champion black athletes, activists, and hosts until billionaires like Jerry Jones threaten their revenue streams. ...By choosing to ban its reporters' opinions, ESPN is making an explicitly political decision to side with the Trump administration on the wrong side of history."

Follow Perez on Twitter @byajperez

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

See the original post:
Rev. Al Sharpton: Jerry Jones has 'plantation mentality'

Sharpton, 62, reportedly usedpart of his speech Monday toattack President Donald Trumps criticism of American sports stars for kneeling in protest during the recitation of the national anthem as the most despicable thing I have seen him do. Sharpton also said, forDonald Trumpto act like this is a flag issue is to divert attention from how he is dealing with the issues that they are kneeling about.

During a rally for defeated U.S. Senate candidate Luther Strange who lost to Roy Moore for Attorney General Jeff Sessions vacated Senate seat earlier this month, Trump said, Wouldnt you love to see one of theseNFLowners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! Hes fired. Hes fired!

Sharpton told the crowd at his award ceremony, This is the same president, a few weeks ago, that when we saw neo-Nazis marching inCharlottesville, he said that there were some fine people on both sides but he calls the mother of pro athletes bitches. It is something that I think is beyond the pale.

In addition to this, the Democrat who worked with the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a youth said race relations in the United Staes are in as much peril now as we were when I was a kid joining Dr King, echoing the majority of his fellow political party members opposed to the commander-in-chief.

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Nobel Laureate and mathematician John Nash, economist Paul Krugman and author JK Rowling are past James Joyce recipients.

Sharpton also spoke with student leaders at the Trinity Historical Society:

In an opinion piece, the Irish Centrals Niall ODowd wrote, The UCD Society that invited him should be ashamed of themselves for awarding Sharpton. ODowd also questioned why the presenters of the award did not mention his role in the debunked Tawana Brawley case,in whicha 16-year-old black teenager from New York lied about getting raped by six white men and having KKK written across her chest and nigger, nigger written across her stomach.

Brawley had even claimed one of her assailants was a white police officer.

At the time, Sharpton who was a spokesman for the legal team and the Brawley family said, New York State is now the capital of racial violence.

Embattled comedian Bill Cosby also came out in support of Brawley.

Veteran state investigator John Ryan helped crack the case, and then-New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams testified, Those allegations are untrue. The people who made those allegations lied. Their outrageous, irresponsible acts have increased the atmosphere of tension between the races.

It came out later that Ms. Brawleys boyfriend reportedly said that she had faked the attack to avoid a beating from her mother for spending days with the boyfriend.

In a letter to the editor of theIrish Times, an Irish national wrote, There are many deserving African-American civil-rights leaders that UCD could have chosen for this honour, instead of Sharpton.

While fielding questions from students, the subject of President Trumps potential reelection was raised. Asked if this was a possibility, Sharpton reportedly replied, Yes, if we dont organize.

Sharpton appeared to be referring to the lefts so-called Resistance movementagainst Trump.

Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her onFacebookandTwitter

Read more:
Irish University Honors Al Sharpton With James Joyce Award ...

The Rev. Al Sharpton was honored in Ireland on Monday for his long odyssey in the civil rights world with an award named for Ulysses author James Joyce.

The civil rights activist, 62, traveled to University College Dublin to receive the tribute from the institutions Literary & Historical Society.

Brooklyn-born Sharpton joined a prestigious list of other honorees that includes Nobel Prize-winning anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Irish politician John Hume and poet Seamus Heaney.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson is another prominent American civil rights activist who received the award, picking up his honor in 2004.

Sharpton slams Trump's 'cowardice' in Kaepernick comment

Sharpton used part of his speech to students Monday to slam President Trump after his criticism of U.S. athletes taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality.

He said Trumps calling NFL players such as Colin Kaepernick the first to take a knee in protest a son of a b---h is the most despicable thing I have seen him do, the Irish Times reported.

Read more:
Rev. Al Sharpton receives James Joyce Award in Ireland

Rev. Al Sharpton is the subject of a day-long Columbia University School of Journalism symposium examining the impact he has had on civil rights and urbanizing the doctrines of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. over the last 50 years. The event will take place on Wednesday, October 11 from 9-5 p.m. at 2950 Broadway.

Civil rights leaders, scholars and media analysts will be among those examining Rev. Sharptons leadership, including civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, MSNBC television host Joy-Ann Reid, race theory scholar Kimberle Crenshaw, television correspondent Angela Rye, and others, who will judge the historic impact Rev. Sharpton has had, how he has further developed the movement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and how he has set a tone on fighting racial violence for all communities of color.

Sharpton began his work in activism at the age of thirteen in 1967, under the tutelage of Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Dr. William Augustus Jones. Sharpton became the youth director of Operation Breadbasket, an organization using the power of Black ministers and the organizing strength of churches to create economic opportunities in Black communities. In 1991, Sharpton founded his non-profit civil rights organization, The National Action Network.

October 3, Sharpton's 63rd birthday, marks 50 years since his involvement in the civil rights movement.

Continued here:
Rev. Al Sharpton's activism being assessed at Columbia ...