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Jemele Hill recently published her book Uphill: A Memoir where she writes about her past traumas and leaving ESPN. The Detriot-born journalist became well-known after co-hosting ESPN’s SportsCenter with Michael Smith. Their show had a more creative approach in comparison to the other shows on the major sports network due to their funny skits and commentary.
However, Jemele came under fire after criticizing former President Trump in a series of tweets and she ultimately left the network after getting suspended. During her book tour, she stopped by the Tamron Hall show and reflected on the controversial moment in her career.
“After the White House former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that what I said about former president Trump was a fireable offense, and of course, after he attacked me on Twitter, it felt like the relationship I had with ESPN was broken at that point,” she said.
“Broken because they didn’t respond to somebody else coming after one of their employees and that’s when I knew this was our fork in the road.”
In an excerpt from her memoir, the award-winning journalist admitted that she violated ESPN’s social media policy and while the damage had been done, she saw this as an opportunity to realign her goals.
Jemele wrote: The suspension gave me time to think about my future. I wasn’t oblivious to the message ESPN was sending me. I was out of chances. Another misstep and I’d probably be fired, which only made me feel more driven and empowered. I wasn’t going to leave on ESPN’s terms. I was going to leave on my own.
In her interview with Tamron, the podcaster explained the thinking behind her statement. “What I knew was that I was grateful for all the turmoil because it forced me to get out of a state of complacency,” she explained.
Since leaving the well-known network, the 46-year-old began contributing to The Atlantic, signed a deal with Spotify to start her podcast Jemele Hill is Unbothered, and appeared on many series such as Showtime’s docuseries Everything’s Gonna be All White. As for her personal life, she married Ian Wallace in 2019 whom she met while attending Michigan State University.
“All those things I’m doing now were things I saw for myself after ESPN,” she said. And she let it be known that she “walked away with a check” from the network.
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