Fox & Friends attacks ESPN for not firing host Jemele Hill after she called out Trump’s racism on Twitter

Hosts draw false equivalence between Hill and former ESPN analyst Curt Schilling, who was fired after repeated warnings to stop posting bigoted comments on social media

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Fox & Friends claimed that ESPN “looks like they’re playing sides” because the network did not fire host Jemele Hill for calling out President Donald Trump’s racism on Twitter. The hosts compared Hill to former ESPN analyst Curt Schilling, who was fired when he shared a transgender-bashing Facebook post after being repeatedly warned -- and ignoring those warnings -- to stop putting “political” posts on social media. Co-host Ainsley Earhardt claimed, “The way it looks to most Americans is, because Curt Schilling had conservative views, he gets fired,” adding, “It just looks that way to the public, like they’re choosing a Democrat versus a Republican.” The “conservative” posts Schilling was fired for sharing included the transphobic meme about bathroom bills on Facebook, multiple images comparing Muslims to Nazis, one meme comparing the Confederate flag to biblical imagery, one image linking abortion to slavery, and one picture with text calling Hillary Clinton “a rich, mean old lady with a drinking problem, a cheating husband, and a trail of dead bodies behind her.” From the September 14 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): How about the fact that, OK, she made these comments on Twitter. It wasn’t that long ago that Curt Schilling, who also was working at ESPN, made comments about the North Carolina bathroom bill. And he got fired for his Twitter comments.

[...]

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): The way it looks to most Americans is, because Curt Schilling had conservative views, he gets fired. This girl doesn't and she gets to keep her job. It looks like they’re playing sides. Whether or not they are, I don't know. I don't wish anyone to lose their job. But it just looks that way to the public, like they’re choosing a Democrat versus a Republican.