ESPN's Double Standard Exposed in Network's Failure to Discipline Jemele Hill for Ignorant Tweet

                ESPN distributed a memo in January to its employees that depicted a clear message: abstain from making bold political statements.

                Former Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher and three-time World Series champion, Curt Schilling learned the hard way the consequences of ignoring the network’s demands.

                A member of ESPN’s team since 2010 who was featured as a color commentator/analyst on “Monday Night Baseball,” Schilling got the boot after sharing a Facebook post on his personal page that retorted to the controversial House Bill 2 North Carolina Law that prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms that do not match with their birth-designated genders.

                USA Today's For The Win website took a screenshot of the tone-deaf Facebook post Schilling shared.

Curt Schilling shared this insensitive meme on his Facebook page. (Retrieved by For The Win)

                Clearly mocking the idea that transgender people should be allowed to enter the bathroom of their choosing, Schilling gave his own thoughts on the issue, making it known he believes transgender individuals should be required to use the bathroom that aligns with their birth genders. Schilling said: “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.”

                ESPN promptly fired the former MLB player, citing that his “conduct was unacceptable.”

                Schilling’s outspoken political stances are well-documented, and were likely a factor in the network dismissing him of his duties. He was suspended in August by ESPN—removing him from working the Little League World Series broadcasts—after tweeting a graphic (now deleted, but can be seen below) that compared radical Muslims to Nazis.

The tweet Curt Schilling sent, and then deleted, comparing radical Muslims to Nazis. (Retrieved from ShoeBat.com's website)

                Disregarding ESPN’s request to eschew political remarks subjected Schilling to discipline from the network. But why then has Jemele’s Hill’s distasteful tweet—regarding the Orlando shootings and why she believes it’s unfair for Americans to criticize homophobia in Islamic cultures—not rendered her to punishment?

Jemele Hill was not reprimanded for her contentious tweet about the Orlando shooting. (Jarrad Henderson/Detroit Free Press)

                The ill-informed tweet (shown below) by Hill, a co-host of ESPN's show, His & Hers, was a direct response to the Orlando shooting, in which the shooter vowed homage to ISIS before killing 49 people and wounding 53 more inside of a gay club on early Sunday morning.

So in a country where we have done everything possible to undermine the LGBTQ community, we are suddenly lecturing Islam on homophobia. Oh.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) June 12, 2016

                Hill failed to adhere to ESPN’s rules by posting this tweet. To compound matters, Hill’s tweet was disgustedly ignorant. Not only does she assert that the United States “undermines the LGBTQ community”—which could not be further from the truth as the country’s acceptance of the LGBTQ community is undoubtedly at an all-time high—she has the audacity to state that the U.S. should not “lecture Islam on homophobia.”

                Oblivious to world issues, Hill must be unaware there are 10 Muslim nations where homosexuality is punishable by death. These nations practice some form of Sharia law—an Islamic law that enforces death upon homosexuals. It’s well known that ISIS stones gays to death and has been doing so for a long time. So yes, the U.S. indeed has every right to critique Islam on its homophobic practices. Hill ignored these disturbing truths and spewed out an idiotic tweet that offended many of her followers and other Twitter users.

                And yet, ESPN, a network that leans heavily left on the political spectrum, chose not to suspend Hill for her ill-advised tweet. By not suspending Hill, the network’s double standard for conveying political statements was exposed. It’s apparently acceptable for ESPN employees to make edgy political remarks, so long as these comments are in accordance to a liberal mindset.

           Comment on a political issue with a conservative view and ESPN believes its employee has overstepped his/her boundaries and deserves a suspension and/or a job dismissal. This is, unfortunately, a prime example of modern-day hypocrisy—in this instance coming from the world’s biggest sports media conglomerate.