On Tuesday night, former ESPN host and current Atlantic writer Jemele Hill, tweeted an assassination reference during President Trump’s State of the Union Address. On Wednesday, we found out the Secret Service is “aware” of Hill’s tweet, and stands by their obligation to “investigate all threats related to our protectees.”
“While the Secret Service is aware of the subject’s comments, we cannot confirm or comment on the absence or existence of specific investigations. We can say, however, the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees,” the Secret Service told the Washington Examiner in an email.
The trouble began when Hill responded to remarks from another Twitter user during the SOTU.
According to the Examiner:
That user had joked that liberal firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., should have shouted, “Whose mans is this?” during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. That phrase, in popular culture, has come to denote a boring person.
“Nah, she gotta yell: GETCHO HAND OUT MY POCKET,” Hill responded in a since-deleted tweet.
Those words were shouted by someone in the audience of Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was giving his final address. While his security detail was distracted by the commotion, the divisive figure was shot by three members of the Nation of Islam, the organization in which he once held a prominent role.
Hill has since apologized for the tweet.
Let me be clear: I have often disagreed with many of the president’s policies, his behavior and rhetoric, but I would never call for violence against him, or any person. I apologize for breathing life into such an absurd assumption.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 7, 2019
The incident is eerily reminiscent of the exchange that landed Hill in hot water in October of 2017. In that case as well, Hill was responding to Twitter users. Specifically, she was answering questions about how fans could protest the Dallas Cowboys and Owner Jerry Jones, for Jones’ statement claiming that he would take action against any player who disrespected the flag or anthem.
Hill told Cowboys fans they could most impact the franchise, by going after the team’s advertisers.
This play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ's statement, boycott his advertisers. https://t.co/LFXJ9YQe74
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
ESPN suspended Hill for two weeks.
It appears that Hill’s bad habit of engaging in escalating Twitter debate that incriminates her, has followed her into her next job.
This is not the first time Hill has appeared in headlines alongside President Trump. In September of 2017, she tweeted that President Trump was a “white supremacist.”
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
The Atlantic has not said whether they will suspend the former ESPN host for her comments.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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