White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday slammed as "a fireable offense" Twitter comments by ESPN anchor Jemele Hill ripping President Donald Trump as "a white supremacist" and "a bigot."
"That's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly is a fireable offense by ESPN," Sanders told reporters at the daily briefing.
Hill, 41, who is African American and a co-host of ESPN's "SportsCenter," slammed Trump in a rant, including: "Donald Trump is a white supremacist surrounded by other white supremacists."
The tweets have since been deleted.
ESPN, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., issued a statement via Twitter on Tuesday distancing the company from Hill's comments:
The network did not elaborate on any possible punishment for Hill, and she was on Tuesday's 6 p.m. ET "SportsCenter" broadcast as usual.
While many Twitter users called for Hill to be fired, unemployed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick expressed his support:
Sanders noted President Trump met Wednesday with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the state's first African-American senator and the other black GOP member in the Senate, to discuss racial issues.
"He's committed to working with [African-American leaders] to bring the country together," she said. "That's where we need to be focused, not on outrageous statements like that one."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.