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The White House said ESPN anchor Jemele Hill committed a "fireable offense" after she called Republican President Donald Trump a "white supremacist."
“That is one of the more outrageous comments that anybody could make and certainly is something that is a fireable offense by ESPN,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday, the Hill reported.
The network hasn't gone that far, though, saying in a statement that it only "addressed" Hill's string of Monday tweets with her, that "she recognizes her actions were inappropriate" and that her "comments do not represent the position of ESPN,” the sports network noted.
Here are some of her tweets:
Image source: Twitter screenshot
Image source: Twitter screenshot
Image source: Twitter screenshot
Image source: Twitter screenshot
But Hill — who co-hosts ESPN's 6 p.m. SportsCenter program “SC6 with Michael [Smith] and Jemele" — has her share of backers.
MSNBC's Joy Reid took direct aim at Sanders' statement:
Today, the White House press secretary used the people's podium to call for the firing of an individual citizen, @jemelehill. Take that in.— Joy Reid (@Joy Reid) 1505329458.0
Harsher words for @jemelehill than actual white supremacists. https://t.co/BUeusBMZrL— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari Sellers) 1505329526.0
David French of the conservative National Review didn't like what the White House had to say, either:
"Public officials should not be calling for the termination of private critics, period." https://t.co/jA9cn9dDr3— David French (@David French) 1505335147.0
And Hill's co-host Smith seemed confident about the days ahead:
hell yeah, f---in right! see you at 6 https://t.co/Wm9GcdWskX— Michael Smith (@Michael Smith) 1505338861.0
