Robin L Marshall/Getty Images

Jemele Hill Assigns Blame For What Happened At ESPN

Originally posted on The Spun | By Chris Rosvoglou | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 4:03 PM ET

Jemele Hill is finally opening up about her departure from ESPN.

Hill joined ESPN in 2006 and took on various roles before eventually being named an anchor for "SportsCenter." Unfortunately, the Detroit native didn't hold onto that job for too long. That's because she left the network in September of 2018. Last week, she spoke to Rick Strom about her fallout with one particular TV executive.

During Hill's conversation with Strom, she called out former ESPN executive Norby Williamson. She claims he didn't view her or Michael Smith as good fits for "SportsCenter."

Apparently, Williamson had an issue with Hill and Smith tackling any political issues ties to the world of sports.

"If there was some political or social issue, it definitely was tied to sports and it definitely was in the news," Hill told Strom. "This is something that a lot of black people know, which is your presence is just political. Whether you want it to be or not. So really, what they were trying to say was, ‘Where’d they get these two black people from and why are they on the 6 o’clock SportsCenter?"

Hill also called out Williamson for trying to "de-blackify" ESPN's shows.

"He did a lot to de-Blackify the show. It just seemed very intentional and purposeful that he wanted to make SportsCenter great again."

Hill continued, "I feel like they tried to make it as vanilla as possible. We could read all the tea leaves. It was suggested to us that we should have somebody like Will Cain on the show. That's no disrespect to Will Cain, but is he an expert at something that we are not?"

After leaving ESPN in the fall of 2018, Hill joined The Atlantic as a contributing writer. She recently made an appearance on CNN to discuss President Trump's second term in office.

We'll see if ESPN fires back at Hill within the next few days.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: