Current Events > ESPN Supports Diverse Voices If It Can Control What They Say

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://deadspin.com/espn-supports-diverse-voices-if-it-can-control-what-the-1819297519/amp

Yesterday, Jemele Hill, co-host of the flagship 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter, tweeted a very obvious and uncontroversial observation about forms of protest. As part of a broader discussion about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Joness threats to punish any player who takes part in racial injustice protests during the national anthem at Cowboys games, she observed that football fans who wished to express their displeasure with Jones could do so more effectively by boycotting brands that advertise with the Cowboys than by merely declining to watch Cowboys games on TV.

This is like saying that the ocean is wetter than the desert. No actual human being who has paid the least bit of attention to the media or entertainment industries over the past few years would find it so much as counterintuitive, much less offensive. (Note, if you will, that this is just a smarter version of the course of action Donald Trump and right-wing chuds like Clay Travis have been prescribing for NFL fans who disapprove of the anthem protests. Boycotts are effective is not exactly a partisan take.) For this, apparently because some of the companies that would be impacted by such a boycott do business with ESPN, Hill has been placed on a two-week suspension.

(Needless to say, the choice to suspend Hill for this, on the basis that it freaked out the brands that do business with ESPN, only confirms the obvious and uncontroversial point she was making in the first place: Media companies are scared of advertiser boycotts!)

This is the second time in a month that Hill has used her personal Twitter account to share a factually defensible observation about the world, and the second time in a month that her bosses at ESPN have responded by arbitrarily defining that observation as troublesome and meriting of public discipline. Back in September, she tweeted that Donald Trump is a white supremacist, has surrounded himself with other white-supremacists, and is unfit for the job he now holdsempirically upstanding judgments she shares with a healthy majority of Americans (as well as, if the reporting is to be trusted, no small portion of Trumps cabinet)and was made to apologize for it. Each time, what she has crashed into is the dismal limit of ESPNs much-touted commitment to diversity.

Great read and I hope they keep the pressure on ESPN
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She speaks the truth but poor little Trump and his ass kissers cant handle it
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'Boycott the company that pays my salary' has literally never worked out.

And I don't recall seeing you cry over conservatives getting the same treatment.
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darkjedilink posted...

'Boycott the company that pays my salary' has literally never worked out.

Wendi Nix seems to be doing ok

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_563f87ede4b0411d307161a3
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FrisbeeDude posted...

darkjedilink posted...

'Boycott the company that pays my salary' has literally never worked out.

Wendi Nix seems to be doing ok

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_563f87ede4b0411d307161a3

Never heard of him.
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Didn't ESPN get rid of hank Jr (although he's back now) for comments about Obama and curt schilling for obscene comments.

I don't understand people defending her. ESPN said "stop saying controversial things" and then she picked a side and said boycott one of our biggest paychecks.

It's not like ESPN is being political. They're just saying you represent us. Do it to make us the most money or don't do it.
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i mean yeah, a company usually dictates what content is aired on its network. this is true of every network on television
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She was previously warned for the Trump tweet. This was the 2nd violation.
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Blue_Inigo posted...

She speaks the truth but poor little Trump and his ass kissers cant handle it

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darkjedilink posted...

'Boycott the company that pays my salary' has literally never worked out.

And I don't recall seeing you cry over conservatives getting the same treatment.

That's not really how it is. Also, regardless of that, it's sad that money trumps truth/equality/change/taking action.
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andel posted...

i mean yeah, a company usually dictates what content is aired on its network. this is true of every network on television

Her tweets were not aired on ESPN
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Pretty sure if I stood at the door at work and told people not to spend money there I'd get fired too.
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Cj_WlLL_VVlN posted...

Didn't ESPN get rid of hank Jr (although he's back now) for comments about Obama and curt schilling for obscene comments.

I don't understand people defending her. ESPN said "stop saying controversial things" and then she picked a side and said boycott one of our biggest paychecks.

It's not like ESPN is being political. They're just saying you represent us. Do it to make us the most money or don't do it.

This is completely right, but TC is fragile and thinks that anything bad that happens to a black person was due to racism.
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Antifar posted...

andel posted...

i mean yeah, a company usually dictates what content is aired on its network. this is true of every network on television

Her tweets were not aired on ESPN

you are correct on that end, they do have the right to respond to comments an employee makes that may make them look badly

she was on the money that trump is a white nationalist but that isn't what she was suspended for and she was warned not to make incendiary comments as her job is to cover sports.
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Antifar posted...

andel posted...

i mean yeah, a company usually dictates what content is aired on its network. this is true of every network on television

Her tweets were not aired on ESPN

Doesn't matter. On-air talent have guidelines for their public social media usage. In fact, most companies would fire employees at any level if they encouraged customers to boycott the business using Facebook or Twitter.

You have to have a severe victim complex to think this was due to racism and not business.
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darkjedilink posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

darkjedilink posted...

'Boycott the company that pays my salary' has literally never worked out.

Wendi Nix seems to be doing ok

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_563f87ede4b0411d307161a3

Never heard of him.

Your ignorance is not relevant
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That's a stupid title, that's literally every company.
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Rioushu posted...

That's a stupid title, that's literally every company.

ESPN shouldn't be touting diverse viewpoints if at the end of the day, they're gonna bow to coporate demands to appease sensitive (often white) conservatives

Hell, Vice and deadspin are more willing to go to the mat for their employees than ESPN. That's fucking sad
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Silly, Jemele. Only Republicans can call for boycotts.
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hockeybub89 posted...

Silly, Jemele. Only Republicans can call for boycotts.

Or white ESPN talent

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=14081099
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