In the same week that white nationalists took back to the streets in Charlottesville, Donald Trump only seems to care to about ESPN ratings and NFL protests. Trump has literally said nothing about the events that happened in Charlottesville a few days ago while the city still mourns the death of Heather Heyer, but he has found time to take a jab at Jemele Hill. Does anyone else see a problem with this? No, just me... Ok, cool. Btw, Donnie, it's mic, not MIKE!
ESPN has suspended host Jemele Hill for the next two weeks due to "a second violation of our social media guidelines." Complete and utter bs, but what else is new. Hill was critical of Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner who recently threatened his players by saying if they disrespect the flag they will not play. Trump also in regards to Jones's statement said via Twitter, "A big salute to Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who will Bench players who disrespect our Flag. 'Stand for Anthem or sit for game!'" Jemele wrote in a series of tweets that Jones created a hostile environment for his black players because "if they don't kneel, some will see them as sellouts." Fair enough. She later added, "if you reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don't place the burden squarely on the player."
The backlash was swift. Many claimed that she was using her platform to start a boycott although if you want to get technical she never explicitly said not to buy products from his advertisers. She even said in one of her tweets that she was not "advocating an NFL boycott." She wanted to highlight that an "unfair burden has been put on players in Dallas & Miami w/ anthem directives."
Like my man, Ben here stated anytime a minority, specifically the black ones, try to use their voice and or platform they're met with an absurd amount of criticism. This was a movement started by Colin Kaepernick to highlight police brutality and the systematic oppression of Black Americans and it's somehow morphed into what right-wingers want you to believe is a stance against the anthem and flag. This was a protest of the effects of slavery that I feel to this very day and y'all turned it into disrespecting this nations troops and service members. Seriously, give me a break.
It is Jemele Hill's job to give her commentary on what's happening in the sports world. Newsflash what's happening in the political world is going to trickle down into it. These players are real people with lives and not the entertainment monkeys we want them to be. How can she be expected to do her job if she ignores or cherry picks certain topics and conversations? How can she be expected to do her job if she isn't allowed to have an opinion? This is exactly why we #TakeAKnee.
Cue Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner responsible for the bs 4 game suspension of Tom Brady, who sent out a memo stating that the NFL will discuss the national anthem controversy next week. Goodell says the league and its players should work too, "move past this controversy." He said the plan would continue to have a dialogue and promote the work of its players on key issues. What that plan is exactly is between God and Goodell because he provided 0 details on what that plan would be.
Basically, the meeting is a segway into putting into place a rule that would make NFL players stand for the national anthem.
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