RESTON, VA — On Wednesday, Media Research Center Founder and President Brent Bozell released an open letter to Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg about the magazine’s hiring of Jemele Hill, a sports journalist who last week joked about assassinating Donald Trump.
In the letter, Bozell explained, “Ms. Hill’s veiled threat essentially encouraged a violent criminal action that could result in the death of our duly elected president and also in the destabilization of our government.” The MRC president called the comments “disgusting” and added, “I would appreciate it if you could give us your position on this matter.”
The letter can be read below:
Jeffrey Goldberg
Editor-In-Chief
The Atlantic
600 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20037
Dear Mr. Goldberg,
I am writing today inquiring about Jemele Hill’s continued association with The Atlantic after her State of the Union tweet last week suggesting that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should have yelled the same phrase shouted before Malcolm X was assassinated.
It should go without saying that a tweet suggesting an assassination attempt on President Trump is beyond the pale. Ms. Hill’s veiled threat essentially encouraged a violent criminal action that could result in the death of our duly elected president and also in the destabilization of our government. That Ms. Hill has the huge platform afforded to her by virtue of her position in the media, means she has an even higher duty to refrain from any such public communication. Her violent rhetoric is not only irresponsible, it is disgusting.
Ms. Hill has since offered an apology. Unfortunately, the apology failed to take full responsibility for the weight of her words. And, the apology carries even less weight as the incident is only one of a long line of irresponsible and unprofessional uses of her platform to directly attack the president. At ESPN, Hill was admonished and later suspended for her misuse of Twitter. Eventually, ESPN bought out Ms. Hill’s contract in order to disassociate the company from her harmful rhetoric.
Rather than learning a lesson from ESPN’s bad business decision, you decided that The Atlantic should instead bring Ms. Hill on staff. According to your interview with The Hollywood Reporter that appeared in the October 1, 2018 edition, you hired Ms. Hill because she would “make all sorts of useful trouble.” If you believe the suggestion that the President of the United States should be assassinated is useful, then she has delivered for you.
Ms. Hill has proven through her numerous past indiscretions that she has a complete lack of professionalism and journalistic integrity, and her continued association with The Atlantic is poisoning your reputation. I would appreciate it if you could give us your position on this matter.
Sincerely,
L. Brent Bozell
Founder and President
Media Research Center
