The White House responds to ESPN host Jemele Hill calling Trump a white supremacist | The Herald Sun

The White House on Wednesday responded to ESPN SportsCenter host Jemele Hill’s comments on Twitter, where she called President Donald Trump a “white supremacist.”

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said during a press conference that Hill’s tweet about the president was “one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN.”

ESPN made clear Tuesday that the cable sports channel’s views do not reflect those of Hill.

“The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN. We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate,” ESPN said in a statement.

Hill posted the tweet about Trump during an exchange she had with other Twitter users about Kid Rock, who had recently given a racially charged speech during a concert. Hill had posted an article about the singer and was responding to comments about that.

It is unclear whether ESPN will discipline Hill for her comments. ESPN suspended Hill once before, in 2008, when she compared rooting for the Boston Celtics to having sympathy for Adolf Hitler in a column.

Hill, who was a sports writer at The News & Observer from 1997-99, declined to comment Tuesday night.

Here is how Twitter users, including NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, reacted to Hill’s tweet:

Joe Johnson contributed.