During President Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address, former ESPN employee Jemele Hill seemingly fantasized about the assassination of the President, tweeting the idea of Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez creating a distraction by using a phrase associated with the assassination of Malcom X.
Responding to a Twitter user who wrote, “please let @AOC yell out, ‘whose mans is this,’” Hill wrote in the now-deleted tweet, “Nah, she gotta hell: GETCHO HAND OUT MY POCKET.”
Hill was referencing the commotion before the murder of Malcolm X. As noted by The Federalist, “The phrase ‘Get your hand outta my pocket!’ was the same one yelled in the Manhattan Audubon Ballroom in 1965 as a distraction before the murder of Malcolm X. As the room tried to quell the commotion, another man rushed forward and shot Malcolm X in the chest.”
Hill, who now works at The Atlantic, deleted the tweet after severe backlash, but a screenshot can be viewed below:
Another tweet from Hill during Tuesday’s State of the Union address mocks Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a racist.
“Mitch McConnell looks like separate drinking fountains,” she posted.
The former sports journalist also refuted the idea that the record low black unemployment during Trump’s tenure has anything to do with the President. Somehow, former President Barack Obama should get credit for Trump’s good economy, though virtually all credible economists refute this notion.
“Let’s mention it’s been trending downward since Obama. Current President is literally just riding a wave,” reads the tweet.
As early as January 2018, economists were assigning credit to Trump for the booming economy. The Hill reported:
The Wall Street Journal asked 68 business, financial and academic economists who was responsible for the strengthening of the economy, and most “suggested Mr. Trump’s election deserves at least some credit” for the upturn.
A majority said the president had been “somewhat” or “strongly” positive for job creation, gross domestic product growth and the rising stock market.
The pros cite the White House’s push for lighter regulation and the recent tax bill as critical to a pro-growth environment; more than 90 percent of the group thought the tax bill would boost GDP expansion over the next two years.
Hill has not hidden her disdain for the President, bluntly calling Trump and some of his advisors “white supremacists” in a tweet from September 11, 2017.
“Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself [with] other white supremacists,” she wrote.
As noted by The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti, ESPN declined to punish Hill for the controversial tweet, “but ended up suspending her just a few weeks later after she called on viewers and advertisers to boycott ESPN’s coverage of the Dallas Cowboys and the team’s owner, Jerry Jones, who objected to NFL players kneeling in protest during the national anthem. She was then relegated to a role as an opinion columnist for ESPN’s ‘Undefeated’ website.”
In August, the commentator parted ways with ESPN: “Hill reportedly wanted to continue to advocate for social justice; ESPN higher-ups are working to minimize the network’s political commentary and return the network’s focus to sports and sports news,” noted Zanotti.
Though Hill has deleted the Trump-assassination tweet, the Atlantic staffer has yet to post any public apology or clarification regarding the highly inappropriate tweet.