Jemele Hill is no stranger to putting her political views front and center as a media personality. This week she called out Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for rescinding his endorsement of President Joe Biden in an interview with Fox News as “political cowardice.”
Last week, Johnson said in an interview on Fox News he would not endorse Biden in the presidential election this year. While Johnson did not go so far as to endorse another option and chose not to campaign for president himself this cycle despite past hints at a run, he publicly distanced himself from the current Democrat in office. Johnson said he worried that endorsing Biden helped create division in the United States and did not want to do so any longer.
Responding to Johnson’s comments on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Monday, Hill praised Johnson as a man but argued that withholding an endorsement of Biden is effectively the same as supporting the politics of his opponent, Donald Trump.
“Even though he said he was going to keep his ballot to himself, he actually didn’t,” Hill said of Johnson. “Because there’s only one other person who will be the nominee. So unless you plan to write in yourself … you have made your decision that you plan to vote for xenophobia and bigotry and all these other things that you claim to stand against.”
Hill questioned why Johnson would frame the idea of endorsing Biden as divisive in the first place when he did not see it that way in 2020.
“If (Johnson) wants to stop the division, then he shouldn’t at all make it seem like he is aligned with the side that is pushing only division,” Hill said. “That’s their entire agenda. They have no policy. The entire thing that they have is to get you to hate somebody else that you perceive is lower on the totem pole than you.”
Still, Hill explained that she personally likes Johnson. She simply believes he is miscalculated in thinking that breaking from Biden is going to soothe social and political tensions.
“I love Dwayne Johnson. During my time at ESPN, if you asked people the No. 1 person when they came through and did the ‘carwash’ who was the best person … in terms of how they interacted with people, how nice they were, it was easily The Rock or No. 2 would be Kevin Hart,” Hill said. “And that’s the kind of frankly political cowardice that’s hard to respect.”
After explaining why she believed Johnson was off base, Hill addressed her views of Johnson as a political figure generally.
“I just thought that wasn’t his best moment, and it was so unnecessary, too,” Hill said. “Because I wasn’t going around wondering who The Rock was voting for, so I don’t know why he decided he needed to share that.”
That might be the hardest part of Hill’s argument to follow. Certainly, you can make the case that even among his supporters, Trump has increased the temperature on political division since entering politics a decade ago. His presidency and the fallout of it left an indelible mark on American culture that is more significant than the average president.
However, Johnson’s political views are quite relevant. Not only has Johnson hinted at a political career for himself in the past, but he is also on the board of sports entertainment property TKO. Along with his ex-wife Dany Garcia, Johnson also co-owns the United Football League.
It may seem frivolous to treat the political endorsement of a pro wrestler turned children’s and action movie star so seriously, but Johnson is much more than that now.
[The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on YouTube]
