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Jemele Hill says athletes talking out about essential points wasn’t an issue for hundreds of years within the U.S. — however when Black athletes began utilizing their platform to speak politics, all the things modified.
The veteran sports activities journalist and activist joined us Thursday on “TMZ Live” … and, she tells us even George Washington used sports activities to speak politics when he was operating for workplace — plying visitors with alcohol and taking part in aggressive video games to win their votes.
Hill says that is only one attention-grabbing anecdote she digs into for the primary episode of her new podcast “Spolitics” — and provides, well-known athletes are nonetheless simply residents, so they have each proper to talk their minds about how they’re voting.
JH says there is a lengthy historical past of this, however when Black athletes lastly broke the colour barrier in main skilled sports activities, individuals flipped the script — calling the rhetoric divisive.
Hill typically speaks out about political points, relationship again to 2017, when she known as then-President Donald Trump a “white supremacist.” She left ESPN shortly after, later blasting the office’s “conservative culture.”
Now, she’ll additional discover the intersection between sports activities and politics on “Spolitics” … when debuts on October 17. She and Cari Champion additionally cohost the Vice TV collection “Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports.”
DECEMBER 2022
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As for whether or not there’s anybody in sports activities large enough to actually flip the tide in politics like Taylor Swift would possibly together with her endorsement of Kamala Harris … Jemele mentions one title specifically — watch the clip to listen to who she thinks has the pull to spark a sports-politics FEVER.
Anyhoo … she’s encouraging athletes to maintain talking out on politics, and telling followers to rethink the entire “divisive” label.
