Anxiously awaiting the next thread, "Jemele Hill out of sports..." But seriously, does she have "fans" who like her sports takes?
I suspect her awareness that she probably couldn't speak her mind on various things any more played into the decision.
Other than Berlin, Munich, London, Montreal, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, LA, etc...it's never happened. edited to add Montreal and Melbourne, which I really didn't know anything about.
I don’t view protests or speaking out against wrongdoing as tainting. Politics is involved in EVERYTHING, all facets of life whether you acknowledge it or not. The olympics is no exception. For instance, host countries have tried to use the Games as a showcase for the merits of their political systems. The most glaring example of this was at the 1936 Games in Berlin, Germany. Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany, tried to make the Games a Nazi propaganda show. He believed Germans belonged to a "master race" and that German athletes were superior to all others, especially blacks and Jews. But to Hitler's embarrassment, a group of African American track-and-field athletes won eight gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. Foremost among them was Jesse Owens, a sprinter and long jumper. He won four gold medals; no other male track-and-field athlete in these Games won more than one. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Americans politicized the Games. Two African American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, placed first and third, respectively, in the 200-meter dash. As the national anthem played during their medal ceremony, each man raised a clenched fist above his head in support of the Black Power movement and to protest racism in the United States. They were suspended from the Games and expelled from the Olympic Village. Icons forever. Tommy Smith and John Carlos protesting racism in America on the winner's stand.
Looks like you and I disagree on what we prefer to view in sports. I agree with the IOC that political statements shouldn't be allowed at its sporting events. Seems like the majority of sportsviewers didn't enjoy Jemele Hill's political segments on a sports programming network, too. Politics are a part of life, but that doesn't mean it has to find its way into everything with its toxicity. There's a place for it. Keep it there.
Like I said, there are many on the wrong side of history. I choose to be on the right side of it. Millions of sports viewers support Jamele Hill, Kappernick, Muhammad Ali, and all the other courageous people told to just stick to sports. Black athletes didn’t “politicize” American sports. They’ve been a battleground from the very beginning. Tell Jesse Owens he should've "stuck to sports" when his four gold medals and record-setting performance in the 1936 Berlin Olympics directly flew in the face of Adolf Hitler's plan to use the Games as a showcase for supposed Aryan superiority. Tell that to Jackie Robinson or Muhammad Ali or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or to Billie Jean King or Venus Williams, who, in different eras, fought for the same level of pay equality for men and women. Tell that to black players, Irish players, Italian players, female players, all of whom have fought over decades and centuries for the right to merely exist as athletes, to contribute highly sought-after skills that have long transcended artificial barriers. Sports can reflect the best, and at times the worst, of our collective humanity, and it allows us to experience both ends of that spectrum while studying the fine line that separates the two.
Anybody that really gives a **** about Jemele Hill being on TV needs to get a damn life. It's called a remote control. Now-a-days, you don't even have to stand up to change the channel. You know what I do when someone on TV is not entertaining or enlightening me? I don't go whine on a message board or social media about how he/she needs to "stick to sports." I just change the channel. FWIW, I have nothing against Jamele... I've never really watched the 6 pm sportscenter because I watch SC for what has already happened... the highlights of sporting events. Nothing has really happened by 6 pm ET. But reading these responses, you'd think she took your lunch money or something. LOL... jesus, get over it. It says much more about you than her if you let her (a stranger you will never, ever meet in real life) get under your skin.
Everyone knows the reason why the stock market lost all it's gains this year is because of athletes who won't stand up for the national anthem. This is true because I've seen it on Twitter. That's why ESPN should stick to sports because it's not like politicians are forcing this as an issue down our throats every time they need to distract us or cause chaos.
