Mike Hill opened up about his experience working at ESPN, claiming he was told he was ‘too ghetto’ for promotion there.
Hill said the culture was different at the network when he worked there.
“I did work there for nine years and uh, it’s sad that when I worked there, there was a certain culture that existed at ESPN. Look, I will give them credit for being a worldwide leader. I probably wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it wasn’t for those four letters being on my resume,” he shared on The Black News Channel.
“There are times where I would do things or I would say things and I would get in trouble for it, and my colleagues who didn’t look like me would say the same things, and they would be praised for it,” Hill revealed. “There has not been one Black person that has been on the air that I can think of that has not gone through hell at ESPN.”
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Hill recalled the time a white talent executive told him flat out, “‘The reason you’re not moving up here at ESPN is because you’re too ghetto.’ This is from an executive, a talent executive there, an old white man, ” he noted.
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Hill also said previous black sportscasters at the network, including the late Stuart Scott, Stephen A. Smith, and Jemele Hill, have all had to deal with the double standard.
“Anybody that has gone through there, there has been some sense that you have gone through some sort of hell at ESPN. I’ll just put it down like that, and it needs to change.”
