Journalist Jemele Hill lands exciting new gig and Twitter rejoices
Former ESPN host and columnist Jemele Hill has secured a gig and will be covering sports for The Atlantic, USA Today reports.
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The outspoken sports journalist who broke with sports network ESPN after a series of incidents in which she bumped heads with network brass about issues of racism, will take up residence as a sports writer covering “the intersection of sports, race, politics, gender, and culture,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, announced Monday morning.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 1, 2018
In the spring, the National Association of Black Journalists named Hill its “2018 NABJ Journalist of the Year,” commending her for “using her platform to address national, social and cultural issues, in addition to sports.”
After leaving ESP, Hill landed an exciting opportunity as the voice of LeBron James’ Shut Up and Dribble Showtime documentary.
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Hill was tapped to narrate the long-awaited sports docu-series, breaking from the tradition of hearing men dominate as the choice of voiceovers.
“Lately LeBron has talked about gender and wanting to uplift and position black women in particular,” Hill told The Hollywood Reporter.. “I get the sense that this is all part of that. He was raised by a black woman, he is married to a black woman and he is raising a black woman (daughter Zhuri, 3). If you look at the societal ladder, black women remain on the lowest rung. He clearly understands that we are facing a unique battle. It means a lot that he understands the intricacies of that.”
A sneak peak at the @Showtime 3-part documentary, “Shut Up and Dribble,” that’s executive produced by @KingJames & @mavcarter and narrated by me. Premieres Nov 3 pic.twitter.com/kEvgTxxpcf
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 2, 2018
Shut Up and Dribble will premiere on Showtime in November and will be a three-part docu-series described as “an inside look at the changing role of athletes in our fraught cultural and political environment, through the lens of the NBA.
Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg told THR that Hill is “a Roman candle,” who is “fearless” and “energetic.” He also seems to cut right to what makes Hill such an intriguing hire as she moves away from the structured hierarchy of ESPN:
“Jemele, I believe, will make all sorts of useful trouble.”
Congrats to Hill on her new job.
