It didn’t take Jemele Hill long to find work after her mutual exit from ESPN. Almost immediately after leaving, it was announced that she would be a narrator for the LeBron James Showtime documentary Shut Up and Dribble.
Now, a month after her departure, it was announced by The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg that Hill will be joining the magazine to “cover the intersection of sports, race, politics, gender, and culture.”
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 1, 2018
Let’s be clear, because this almost got me for a second: Hill is not joining The Athletic, the subscription sports news site that has been growing by the day and hiring just about every sportswriter around. Hill is joining The Atlantic, the cultural magazine that discusses current events, politics, race, and culture. But hey, some people definitely made that mistake, including one guy who cancelled his Athletic subscription in protest:
I’ve been laughing about this reply tweet all day. @jemelehill pic.twitter.com/XCkDcGHfx4
— Ralph Amsden (@ralphamsden) October 1, 2018
USA Today also got it wrong on Twitter, and they’ve amazingly left that tweet up all day:
Jemele Hill will join The Athletic to cover "the intersection of sports, race, politics, gender and culture." https://t.co/pCL1ESwGPm
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) October 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/TheAuthletic/status/1046935554183426049
But it’s The Atlantic Hill’s going to, and that seems like a better fit for her than remaining at ESPN. The move will allow her to talk about the things she’s interested in, and as ESPN tries more and more “stick to sports” and on-field events, the Worldwide Leader was looking less and less like a fit for Hill and for others who are never going to stick to sports.
Hill joins a publication that will let her discuss sports, which she no doubt loves, but also will let her discuss events revolving around the sports world. And in a time where the lines between sports and politics are getting more and more blurred, Hill is joining an outlet that has never had the mindset that the two were separate.
