An ESPN commentator criticized Trump. The White House wants her fired.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that ESPN commentator Jemele Hill’s tweets calling President Donald Trump a white supremacist were a “fireable offense” at a press conference on Wednesday.

Sanders was responding to a question about whether the president had seen Hill’s Monday night tweets in which the sports commentator, who is a black woman, called Trump “the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime” and “a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.” “If,” Hill continued, “he were not white, he never would have been elected.”

When asked by Washington Post Reporter David Nakamura about the tweets, Sanders said, “I’m not sure [Trump is] aware, but I think that’s one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something I think is a fireable offense by ESPN.”

ESPN responded to Hill’s tweets in a statement Tuesday, saying, “The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN. We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate.” The tweets have not been deleted, and Hill still works for ESPN.

Following Sanders’s comment, many on Twitter expressed horror at the idea that the White House would encourage ESPN to fire someone for criticizing the president.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via