ESPN said in a statement Tuesday that "SportsCenter" host Jemele Hill's tweets calling President Donald Trump a white supremacist were not representative of the network.
ESPN went on to say that Hill now recognizes her tweets were "inappropriate."
Hill, who co-hosts a 6 p.m. ET edition of ESPN's flagship program, blasted Trump in a series of tweets Monday evening, calling him a "white supremacist" who had also filled his administration with white supremacists.
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/jemelehill/status/907392229290934272
Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
How is it a "false narrative?" Did he hire and court white supremacists? Answer: YES
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 12, 2017
He is unqualified and unfit to be president. He is not a leader. And if he were not white, he never would have been elected
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 12, 2017
ESPN, which has faced accusations of having a liberal bias in its coverage, released a statement Tuesday through its public relations Twitter account after Hill's statements drew strong backlash.
"The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN. We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate," it said.
ESPN Statement on Jemele Hill: pic.twitter.com/3kfexjx9zQ
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 12, 2017
The incident with Hill marks yet another public relations headache for ESPN, which was widely mocked last month after it elected to remove an announcer named Robert Lee from broadcasting a University of Virginia football game. The reasoning: his name's similarity to Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the timing of the white supremacist unrest in Charlottesville, Va.