ESPN’s Jemele Hill during a Wednesday appearance as a guest co-host on ABC’s “The View” said she stands by calling President Trump a white supremacist.
Her remark came during a discussion about Hill’s tweet from last September, in which she said the president “is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.”
“Do you stand by what you said and do you think that President Trump supporters are white supremacists?” asked Meghan McCain, a regular co-host on the program and the daughter of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
“I still stand by what I said,” Hill replied. “I don’t think his supporters are white supremacists. What I would say though is they have the benefit of privilege to be able to distance and disassociate themselves from certain issues. {mosads}
“As a woman of color I feel vulnerable to certain things he said and done and so all of that was part of that response of feeling that vulnerability,” she continued. “If you don’t feel that it’s probably harder for you to understand it.”
McCain then asked her if she would consider someone like Ben Carson, an African-American member of Trump’s Cabinet, a white supremacist.
“No, I mean, I wouldn’t,” Hill replied.
“You also said you stand by what you tweeted,” McCain pressed.
“I wasn’t talking about Ben Carson. I think we know the names,” Hill said.
“But he works in the administration,” McCain said.
Hill then mentioned former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, saying she could “go down the list of people who have played footsie with white supremacists.”
The conversation then shifted before other names could be offered by Hill.
Hill, 42, exited as co-host of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” after less than a year, and five months after she wrote the tweet under discussion, which sparked controversy.
She has since appeared on some non-ESPN programs since leaving “SportsCenter,” including a Feb. 4 interview on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s MSNBC Saturday morning program to share her perspective on sports and racism.
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