Jemele Hill is currently in the midst of a two-week suspension at ESPN and, while that dead period has produced something of a lull in the major backlash to both her public comments and the network itself, it did not stop President Donald Trump from referencing her by name last week. In short, Hill has become a very divisive figure in both the sports and political realms and that has turned up the heat on ESPN with regard to her on-air deployment.
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With that in mind, sports media writer Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated weighed in on Hill's career with the network and declared that he believes "her tenure as a SportsCenter anchor is effectively over" while also indicating his thought that "her time as an ESPN employee is down to months rather than years." While this is only one voice in the landscape, Deitsch is certainly plugged in and believes that Hill "cannot feel that she has management's unwavering support" at the moment on the heels of the suspension.
Deitsch also believes that Hill and Michael Smith's edition of SportsCenter is "being slowly chopped away by the addition of segments you see on traditional SportsCenter shows" and that could also help to spell out the beginning of the end. Within the confines of the same piece, Deitsch also cites best-selling author James Andrew Miller's thoughts on Hill and, in short, he backs up the premise with regard to the "SC6" version of SportsCenter.
"I don't think it is going to make it. I think it was an experiment where the [SportsCenter] brand is being challenged technologically and by a host of other challenges in the marketplace, and they were trying to figure out ways to rescue it in a different way. You know what? That is great. That is what networks and executives are supposed to do. You try things and you don't necessarily bat 1.000%. I think in this case, I think there is enough evidence and minds along the road to say we tried and we are going to figure out something different. If there is one takeaway from this whole SC6 experiment it is to make sure that if you are going to have someone with bold opinions and lot of gumption that you put them in an environment do that."
It isn't a surprise that Hill would potentially want to move on given the lack of support she has garnered internally in recent days. Beyond that, Jemele Hill is now an immensely more prominent personality than ever before and, if she is in search of a platform by which she can voice her views without fear of suspension or other penalty, being a SportsCenter anchor probably is not the best course of action.
Hill's immediate future looks to be safe as she returns to the air next week but, in the long run, it now would feel almost like an upset in reading the tea leaves if she was in the same role a couple years from now.
