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Atlantic contributor and sports journalist Jemele Hill took to Twitter to respond to a resurfaced tweet where she used a transphobic slur.
On Sunday a video began circulating on Twitter showing a segment on Barstool Sports, which had serious problematic and overtly racist tones. In the clip Dave Portnoy, Kevin ‘KFC’ Clancy and Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz discuss Colin Kaepernick, and people of Palestinian descent in a demeaning tone and fashion.
Hill, who is and has been an authoritative voice on matters on the intersection around sports and race, responded to the segment via Twitter.
“This is terrible, but then again, consider the source,” she wrote.
Portnoy, bothered by Hill’s statement tweeted a screenshot of Hill using a transphobic slur in 2009.
In the tweet, Hill wrote “‘My FB friends are calling him ‘Manny The Tranny’…. so inappropriate and hilarious.”
On Monday, Tommy G the host of No Mercy podcast, outed Hill again calling on his followers to berate and harass Hill.
“I got a feeling this isn’t going to go well from @jemelehill …. the queen of cancel culture…. I never ask for retweets, but I think we should all retweet Jemele’s tweet below and make sure everyone sees it,” he wrote.
Hill responded to Tommy G writing, “Let me address this. I saw some folks circulating this tweet from 2009 in my TL after I criticized Bartstool’s Dave Portnoy for a racist skit that went viral yesterday. Let me explain why I kept this tweet up when it was brought to my attention.”
“For context, the tweet was in reference to Manny Ramirez testing positive for the woman’s fertility drug, gonadotropin. It was wholly ignorant, dumb, and offensive. I am ashamed that I was so uneducated about trans issues at the time. I stand with this community firmly today,” she continued.
“I kept the tweet up because I welcomed the opportunity to apologize and show growth. See, unlike some people, I’m not defensive about my moments of failure. I learn from them and own it.”
“I don’t care about Dave Portony or any of the other Barstool sycophants RT’ing this into my TL, like its some gotcha moment. I care about the trans community I belittled and offended. If they don’t see me as an ally because of this, it’s my job to show them that I am.”
Tommy G and Hill continued to engage in a back and forth over Twitter.
But many critics of Tommy G feel that the “podcast host” is just trying to actively engage in the taking down of a strong, Black woman. Some even argued that the tweet from 12 years ago should not remain at the center of her character analysis.
