Jemele Hill, Former Deadspin Writer Accuse ESPN Of White And Right-Wing Favoritism

Jemele Hill participated in an article this week, accusing ESPN of white and right-wing favoritism. "Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith prove that you don’t have to ‘stick to sports’ at ESPN if you favor ‘the right,’" Carron J. Phillips headlines the piece on some website called News One.

If Phillips' name sounds vaguely familiar, he’s the former Deadspin writer who falsely accused a nine-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan of wearing blackface by using a deceptive photo that showed only one side of the kid's red-and-black painted face.

Carron J. Phillips is a scumbag who worships race like a religion.

And Jemele Hill is about the only person left in the media still willing to associate with him. Notably, Hill was the first person to interview Phillips after his hit piece on the minor. However, Hill neglected to ask him about the column or the lawsuit filed in connection with it.

Hill isn’t much better than Phillips these days.

In his latest drivel, Phillips argues that ESPN allows Smith and McAfee to break its ban on politics because they are white and conservative. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

"The network’s two biggest personalities are getting away with so much of what the company’s former black talent could never do," he claims.

Let’s take it step by step.

First, and most obviously, Stephen A. Smith is not white. It appears Phillips was so giddy to use the race angle that he failed to notice how including Smith as co-lead of the article undermined his entire thesis. As evidenced by the "blackface" debacle, editing and facts are not really Phillips’ thing.

Second, Smith is not conservative. He’s actually quite liberal. Him questioning Jasmine Crockett's motives as a congresswoman, the example that Phillips noted, doesn't change that. Further fact, Smith keeps teasing a run for president — as a Democrat. 

Third, ESPN doesn’t allow Smith to discuss politics. His political commentary lives on his independently owned podcast and during appearances on cable news. In his latest contract, he specifically negotiated the right to discuss political issues outside of ESPN.

As for McAfee, there’s no evidence that he’s conservative or liberal. He seems like someone who doesn’t care much about politics or has strong feelings either way.

Phillips takes issue with McAfee interviewing Trump on ESPN on Tuesday, in honor of Veterans Day. But as we explained earlier this week, McAfee didn’t interview Trump about politics. He asked him about sports and the troops. Interviewing or acknowledging the President of the United States is not, by definition, "political." Moreover, McAfee said he also invited Barack Obama on the same episode. Obama — a former Democratic president — declined.

Speaking of Obama, he appeared on ESPN several times during his presidency, including on "Pardon the Interruption." And unlike McAfee’s show, which is produced independently of ESPN, the network approved and booked Obama.

Where was the doofus caterwauling then?

Anyway, Phillips somehow concluded that a black ESPN personality discussing politics on his YouTube channel and a white ESPN personality interviewing the president prove ESPN favors white and conservative people.

We want to emphasize that Carron J. Phillips is indeed this stupid.

So, naturally, Jemele Hill was happy to chime in:

Phillips: I reached out to some former high-profile Black ESPN employees to ask their thoughts on the current environment at the company and whether they would have enjoyed similar freedoms during their time there.

Phillips: When you were at ESPN, what would have happened if you pitched the idea of having a Black president on the air who had been impeached twice, was a convicted felon, was the catalyst for January 6, denied election results, wanted millions of Americans to starve during the holidays, and had a history of disrespecting the troops — like Pat McAfee did?

Hill: The answer wouldn’t just be a no, but a "hell no."

For reference, the other "high-profile black ESPN employee" Phillips contacted was Howard Bryant, who was arrested for allegedly beating his wife in public.

Hill pretending that there’s a right-wing bias at ESPN is amusing, considering she called Trump a "white supremacist" while at the network and didn’t face any discipline. ESPN even invited Hill back this year for the "Around the Horn" farewell tour after she called white men "the worst thing in America."

To be clear, it takes an audience that is impressively susceptible to racially motivated buffoonery to even entertain the argument that Hill and Phillips are making. ESPN’s political bias is well-documented, but it certainly doesn’t lean right.

Here are some examples Phillips somehow missed:

ESPN ordered Ashley Brewer to remove a photo she posted with a GOP congressman, but, per sources, hasn’t said a word to Mark Jones about his pinned image of Obama on X (formerly Twitter).

The network pulled Paul Finebaum off the air after he floated the idea of running for the Alabama Senate as a Republican. Stephen A. didn’t lose a single segment after teasing a Democratic presidential run.

ESPN PR publicly condemned Sage Steele for questioning Obama’s views on biracial Americans. The network said nothing when Elle Duncan praised Michelle Obama on air this past summer.

Speaking of Duncan, she protested Republican legislation in Florida, erroneously dubbing it "Don’t Say Gay" live on ESPN television. She later asked "girl dads" to protest giving abortion rights back to the states from the desk of "SportsCenter."

Her colleague Malika Andrews cried on set after Roe v. Wade was overturned, falsely claiming abortion is a constitutional right.

ESPN had no comment on either segment. We asked.

Likewise, the network declined to comment when Mina Kimes endorsed Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor or Tim Walz for vice president.

Finally, Sage Steele, Sam Ponder, and Ashley Brewer — the only three openly conservative talents at ESPN — have all been let go. Meanwhile, ESPN continues to elevate partisan left-wing hacks like Kimes, David Dennis Jr., and Ryan Clark.

We could go on. But the pattern is obvious. ESPN’s mostly white bosses have made an exception to their "no politics" rule for liberals and people of color, understanding the risk in holding them accountable. 

The evidence is so overwhelming that we seriously wonder whether Phillips and Hill are grifting, low IQ, or just bitter that their skin color and politics couldn’t keep them employed.

Carron J. Phillips did not respond to a request for comment from OutKick when confronted with counterpoints to his baseless claims.