Jemele Hill to The Undefeated

It borders on hagiography at times. And it doesn't need to do that. It feels like an over-correction because of the way the site started with Whitlock. There's a happy medium, I'd hope, between what Whitlock wanted to do and what it is now.

 

That's not the greatest argument in the world.

It's safe to say most people would like a "career" that included real estate billionaire, TV star and, oh, President of the United States.

Should we not engage in Donald Trump bashing because his "career" is vastly superior to ours? Better tell Jemele that.

 

You can criticize her for that if you want. Calling her "irrelevant" is stupid. Otherwise your second question answers itself.

EDIT: I know you're not the one who called her irrelevant.

 

There needs to be a new version of Godwin's Law, except instead of Hitler, Trump gets invoked.

 

I could have used (almost) anybody. The Michigan State president's career kicks the crap out of mine, too.

 

I was bristling at "irrelevant." If Jemele is irrelevant, then we sure do talk about her an awful lot for no reason.

 

In fairness, we're talking about her demotion right here. So perhaps the term should be "shrinking relevance." She'll never be as big as she was when she had Sarah Sanders calling for her job from the White House Press Room. I like her work well enough, and she is a nice person. But her biggest moments seemed to be when she was stepping in it, not when she was framing the conversation.

 

Is it a demotion though? According to the Deitsch story, "multiple sources confirmed that Hill had asked for the switch." It sounds like she's decided she wants to go back to writing. Or at least out of TV. For obvious reasons, I don't like to think of switching back from TV to writing as a demotion. But maybe it can be considered that at ESPN.

 

Point taken.

 

That's all I'm saying. We've all written or said things that can be criticized, and I don't mind that. A lot of the Jemele stuff seems unnecessarily mean and personal and wouldn't be said about a lot of other people in her position.

Anyway, thank you. We've made message board history today. I hope they build statues in our honour.

 

Are they going to let her keep anchor pay to be a writer on a sub-site?

 

If anywhere it can be considered a demotion, it's there. If she wants to write seriously about the intersection of race, politics and gender, the Mouse wouldn't rank among the best places to do it. I have yet to see a single story from the Undefeated that has moved the needle. Is that because of the content creators? The Bristol overlords? I don't know, all I know is what I see and hear of the finished product, and it's not at the center of discussion -- in an environment where a racist, sexist president would seem to create the perfect conditions for an outlet like that to step up.