USA TODAY International Edition
Hill and Champion won’t ‘ stick to sports’
With “Cari & Jemele: Stick To Sports” making its debut on Vice TV on Wednesday night, Jemele Hill and Cari Champion occupy a rare space in the media landscape as two Black women hosting their own late- night talk show.
Men, especially white men, have long occupied this space, and Hill and Champion’s entry into the field is something the genre sorely needs.
“We’re an example of a lot of Black women who are seizing their own power and not waiting for someone to hand it to them,” Hill said of the decision to do the show with Vice TV. “We’re going to say what we want loudly and not worry about what people think about it.”
She and Champion, friends since their days at ESPN, see the unique moment the country is in right now and how sports has become a vital platform for social change.
“Sports is one of the few things that we still do together,” Champion said. “We’re a very separate society in most of the areas of our lives. With sports, you have people of different economic backgrounds, ethnicities and genders rooting for the same thing.
“Introducing these ideas through sports allows you to have a much wider conversation than you would have through just politics.”
As sports has ramped up through the pandemic, social protests on the field have continued, a sharp rebuke to those who suggest athletes should keep their focus on the field.
“I think the ‘ stick to sports’ mentality has been totally terminated,” Champion said. “The people who wanted that, they were always a very loud minority, but now … the toothpaste is out of the tube. It can’t really go back.
“It was always built under a false presumption that was intellectually dishonest anyway. These things have always mixed together; it’s always been scrambled together. It’s not like sports is happening on the moon and we’re out here dealing with real life.”
The movement seems particularly vital right now as the country heads into the 2020 election and wrestles with making significant steps toward achieving racial justice.
“So many athletes are being so vocal about these issues. I’ve been very impressed with younger players in the NBA because they see what’s at stake, they get why voting is so important, why they need to vote like their life depends on it,” Champion said.
“These are all things – sports, culture, politics – which people think we have to separate into different boxes, but we know there’s an intersection and we can show everyone how they work together,” Hill said.
Now that the floodgates are open, athletes have to take the next step from visual protests to doing more.
“All of these leagues are getting it,” Champion said. “For people to even acknowledge what’s going on in the country is a win. Now, we need you to be more than just an ally. We need you to help us disrupt. By disruptive I mean it’s time to make people uncomfortable. We need to change ( expletive).”
Sports has always been political, and Hill said she was surprised by the number of white athletes who have chosen to speak up during this moment, citing the NHL and NASCAR standing in solidarity after Black driver Bubba Wallace found a noose in his stall.
“I didn’t think we’d see conversations about social justice or Black Lives Matter, in, of all places, the NHL,” Hill said. “Look at what happened in NASCAR with Bubba Wallace. There were a lot of drivers who I couldn’t have imagined saying the things that they said after what happened to Wallace.”
At the very least, this tumultuous period has brought people to a different point in the racial conversation, and both Hill and Champion are committed to keeping that going.
“Where we are now, sticking to sports isn’t possible,” Champion said. “I don’t see us going back.”