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Colin Kaepernick supports Jemele Hill after Donald Trump comments, ESPN apologizes

By Alex Butler
President Donald Trump waits for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia to arrive at the White House on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
President Donald Trump waits for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of Malaysia to arrive at the White House on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 13 (UPI) -- ESPN has reprimanded TV host Jemele Hill after she made critical comments about President Donald Trump.

Hill took to Twitter on Monday to post several messages regarding the president, referring to him as a "white supremacist."

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Her series of tweets began on a retweet of an article from The Hill about Kid Rock.

Hill wrote: "He loves black people so much that he pandered to racists by using a flag that unquestionably stands for dehumanizing black people."

She followed up that tweet by responding to other Twitter users.

"Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists," she wrote.

Hill went on to call the president "offensive, ignorant" and a "bigot."

The network responded with a statement on Tuesday.

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"The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN," the company wrote. "We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate."

ESPN has not yet announced if Hill will receive any type of suspension.

Free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick stood behind Hill after the comments, writing: "We are with you @jemelehill."

Other Twitter users, including former ESPN employees Britt McHenry and Curt Schilling, also chimed in.

McHenry tweeted in June, suggesting that her "openly conservative" political association was related to her dismissal from the network. She has since deleted that tweet, but it was saved via screenshot by The Big Lead.

"I mean I've been openly conservative...look how that ended up..." McHenry wrote this summer.

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ESPN fired former baseball star Curt Schilling in 2016 after he made several political social media posts.

"ESPN is an inclusive company," the network said in a statement at the time. "Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated."

Hill currently serves as a co-host for the show SC6 with Michael & Jemele. She joined the network in 2006 as a national columnist for ESPN.com. She previously worked for the Orlando Sentinel Detroit Free Press and Raleigh News & Observer after graduating from Michigan State University.

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