What Is Jemele Hill's Net Worth and Salary?
Jemele Hill is an American sports journalist who has a net worth of $4 million. Jemele Hill is best known for her role as a commentator and sports personality across several ESPN shows. She earns a salary of $1 million for her work at ESPN.
Early Life
Jemele Juanita Hill was born on December 21, 1975, in Detroit, Michigan. Her mother moved the family to Houston in 1980 before returning to Detroit, where Jemele graduated from Mumford High School. In 1997, Hill graduated from Michigan State University.
Jemele began her career as a writer for the "Raleigh News & Observer" and then became a sports writer for the "Detroit Free Press," mainly covering football and basketball at Michigan State University. She also covered the 2004 Summer Olympics and the NBA playoffs. From 2005 to 2006, Hill worked as a columnist for the "Orlando Sentinel."
ESPN
In 2006, Hill joined ESPN as a national columnist for ESPN.com and started appearing on their television shows "First Take," "Outside the Lines," and "The Sports Reporters." In 2011, she teamed up with Michael Smith for the podcast "His & Hers." Due to its popularity, ESPN added Hill to Smith's ESPN 2 show, "Numbers Never Lie," in 2013. The show was renamed "His & Hers" a year later.
In 2017, Jemele and Michael became the evening anchors for "SportsCenter." After a few instances of controversy and several violations of ESPN's social media guidelines, it was announced that Hill would anchor her final "SC6" in January 2018 and transition to a new role at the company's website, "The Undefeated."
Other Career Ventures
In October 2018, Hill joined "The Atlantic" magazine as a staff writer. In 2019, she launched her podcast, "Jemele Hill is Unbothered" covering sports, culture, and politics. She joined forces with Van Lathan in 2020 on "The Ringer" for a twice-weekly podcast titled "Way Down in the Hole." Also in 2020, Hill started co-hosting "Cari & Jemele (Won't) Stick to Sports" on Vice.
Jemele played herself in the 2021 sports drama "National Champions," and in 2022, she was cast in the Showtime documentary series "Everything's Gonna Be All White."
Honors & Accolades
Hill won the inaugural McKenzie Cup in 2007 at the Poynter Media Summit, which is awarded in honor of sports editor Van McKenzie. In 2018, Jemele was named the Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists. In 2019, she was named one of "Worth" magazine's 21 Most Powerful Women in the Business of Sports. Hill headlined the 2022 Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Dinner at Illinois State University.
Controversy
Jemele has found herself in the middle of controversy on a few occasions and was even suspended for a week after making comments referencing Adolf Hitler as to why she could not support the Boston Celtics. She also got in trouble for making a statement that compared coach John Calipari to Charles Manson. Hill also accused baseball player Sammy Sosa of being racist for making his complexion lighter.