Journalist, Jemele Hill took to social media Thursday afternoon to share some big news. She is engaged! Related: Jemele Hill Leaving ESPN In September Related: Oh No! Jemele Hill Suspended From ESPN!! The former ESPN host had a interesting year after making news for a big controversy over comments she made about Donald Trump . After leaving ESPN she became a writer for The Atlantic. Although this year has had it’s ups and downs for Hill, she is ending 2018 on a good note. Join our Hot 107.5 text club for breaking news, exclusive contests, and more!
Showtime Shares The Official Trailer For Shut Up And Dribble Showtime just shared another sneak peek at Shut Up and Dribble , a docu-series that explores activism among NBA players. Executive produced by LeBron James , this three-part documentary series chronicles the modern history of the NBA. Basketball players have helped to bring about social change and make their own political statements since the beginning of the sport, and this series documents that. Narrated by Jemele Hill, Shut Up And Dribble will premiere Saturday, November 3 on SHOWTIME. Check out the official trailer for the upcoming series below.
Image via Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Russell Westbrook Sparks Hilarious Tweets With Sneaky Eating The opening of the NBA season brought us great joy and happiness. LeBron is a Laker, Melo is a Rocket, Boogie Bousins is a Warrior, Kyrie is back from injury, there was so much to be excited about. What we DIDN’T anticipate is that the best moment of the entire opening night wouldn’t be a nuts-in-your-face dunk or a ankle-breaking dribble move, no, it was undoubtedly Russell Westbrook eating snacks on the bench in the shadiest way possible. Russell Westbrook sneaking a snack on the bench is all I needed from tonight. pic.twitter.com/5AYEcGEN1l — Up The Thunder (@UpTheThunder) October 17, 2018 Russy’s clandestine chewing lead the good folks on Twitter to help themselves to a myriad of hilarious meme captions. When you didn’t eat before church and somebody in the congregation yells, TAKE YO TIME PASTOR: pic.twitter.com/DzcVbRyKTD — Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 17, 2018 There’s plenty more where that came from, flip the page for more laughs!
J emele Hill and Michael Smith made history at ESPN by being the first all-Black anchor team on “SportsCenter” in February 2017. They both have left ESPN and now Hill has sat down for her first interview since the departure—and she drops some truths about how they were treated at the network. See Also: President Donald Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims Could Lead To More Voter Suppression In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , the 42-year-old says they were labeled political simply because they were Black and way before she made any comments about Trump. Hill explained, “Mike (Smith) and I specifically were called political, way before any of the Trump stuff ever happened and I always thought that was a very interesting label, because frankly, I think that most of the time it was said because we were the two Black people.” She continued, “It wasn’t our fault that Chance the Rapper decided to wear a Colin Kaepernick T-shirt and say that he wasn’t supporting the NFL. We didn’t have him on the show for that. We had him on the show to talk about him being in Vegas for Mayweather-McGregor. But because you have the two Black people that are outspoken, with another outspoken Black artist, suddenly the show is too political.” Thankfully, ESPN is in her rear view mirror because big things have already come her way. She will narrate the LeBron James basketball documentary Shut Up and Dribble , which airs in November on Showtime. She is now a staff writer for The Atlantic and is developing a TV series with Gabrielle Union, which is loosely based on her relationship with her best friend of 20 years. Hill explained to The Hollywood Reporter , “The best way I can describe it, it’s as if Molly and Issa from ‘Insecure’ had grown up. Imagine those two characters as fully-grown, accomplished women of color.” Huge congrats to Jemele Hill! SEE ALSO: Meet Jogger Joe, The Man Who Took Racist Cue From BBQ Becky In Tossing Homeless Man’s Clothes Trump-Supporting DA Calls ‘Ghetto’ Maxine Waters A ‘Bitch,’ Can’t Believe She Hasn’t Been Shot This Colin Kaepernick Retweet Says Everything You Need To Know About The NFL Players’ Anthem Grievance [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”3785430″ overlay=”true”]
Rich Polk Getty Images for BET Jemele Hill Isn’t Surprised That ESPN Suspended Her ESPN host Jemele Hill stirred controversy after tweeting what everyone already knows about Donald Trump–that he is a white supremacist unfit to serve in the White House. ESPN gave Hill a 2-week paid suspension and received a lot of support standing with her, inspiring people calling and tweeting the network to let ESPN know we #StandWith Jemele. This weekend, TMZ caught up with Ms. Hill, and she told the publication that she most definitely “deserved” her two-week suspension from the network for violating social media policy. But not so fast, Hill also said she’ll “never take back what I said.” She’s still a real one, after all. Jemele spoke with TMZ at the Los Angeles International Airport, “I deserved a suspension. I violated policy…going forward we’ll be in a good, healthy place.” She also added: “I would tell people, absolutely, after my Donald Trump tweets, I deserved that suspension. I deserved it. Like, absolutely. I violated the policy.” Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists. — Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017 Hill also said she’d only apologize for putting “ESPN in a bad spot,” but you won’t catch her saying sorry for what she said, because she’s still a firm believer in those sentiments. Jemele also expressed the gratitude for all of her supporters during this time and says that her time off was used for reflection. She is returning back to work on Monday.
Jemele Smith And Michael Smith Of ESPN’s His & Hers Do “Empire” Parody For Halloween Jemele and Mike KILLED their “Coming To America” skit, but this one is damn good too! http://player.espn.com/player.js?playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a26fe0e89e&adSetCode=91cDU6NuXTGKz3OdjOxFdAgJVtQcKJnI&pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:14008883&thruParam_espn-uiautoPlay=false&thruParam_espn-uiplayRelatedExternally=true We’re glad ESPN gives these two the creative space to get this kinda s#!t. Image via ESPN
Fawkery, scandal, and sex always sell best… Usher, Evelyn Lozada Interviews Give Oprah’s OWN Network Best Weekend Ratings Via S2SMagazine OWN had its biggest weekend to date thanks to Evelyn Lozada and Usher. The network has announced that its weekend lineup came in at #1 for Saturday and Sunday among all broadcast and cable with key Black viewing demographics. For starters, “Welcome To Sweetie Pie’s” earned its highest ratings for an episode ever with 766,000 viewers when it returned for the fall premiere on Saturday night. It also placed in the top 5 of all cable shows for women between 25 and 54. The first of the two-part series premiere of “Iyanla: Fix My Life,” which featured Evelyn Lozada, ranked #2 in its time slot on Saturday among women 25-54. Just over 1.1 million viewers tuned in for the Saturday episode, but part two on Sunday received 1.59 million viewers. Those ratings earned it the #3 spot for its time slot on cable among women 25-54 and 18-49. However, it was #1 among Black women 25-54 and 18-49 across broadcast and cable. Meanwhile, Usher’s episode of “Oprah’s Next Chapter” raked in more than 1.5 million viewers, placing the show at #3 for female viewers 25-54 and 18-49 in that time slot on cable. It fared a little better when just looking at Black women viewers in those age groups, coming in at #1 for all broadcast and cable. Oprah better recognize. After all the positive programming she was shooting for, at the end of the day, people want to hear about the DIRT! Might be sad, but it’s damn sure true. Images via WENN/YouTube
Well would you looky here… Cari Champion Selected A Full-Time Host Of ESPN’s First Take Via BigLeadSports Cari Champion, a reporter from the Tennis Channel, has been selected as the new host for ESPN’s First Take, three sources confirmed to me. ESPN is expected to make an announcement this week. Champion was selected over Heidi Watney and Jemele Hill (among others) and will sit between Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith on the occasionally combative morning show that athletes seem to hate-watch. Here’s a profile of Champion in Tennis View Magazine – she went to UCLA and graduated with a degree in English – and according to Urban Dictionary (weird, I know), she was once fired from an Atlanta TV station for dropping an MF on air accidentally. According to this link, though, she got her job back. I couldn’t find video on the web. Cari was fired from Atlanta’s WGCL Channel 46 back in 2007 for allegedly saying “motherf**ker” live on the air. Cari defended herself saying that really said “mothersucker” during a commercial break when she thought that her mic was turned off, the network brass wasn’t buying it and canned her anyway. Congratulations girl, but you’re working for “The Mouse” (Disney owns ESPN) now, and if you think your local news gig was tough on language then you better wash your mouth out with mad soap if you want to keep a job at the four-letter network! Take a look at the brown-skinned banger below.
