Jemele Hill will officially be parting ways with ESPN at the end of the month, but she is not going away empty-handed.
The writer and TV host agreed to terms with ESPN on a buyout of her contract. Bossip reports that she is receiving nearly $6 million as terms of the buyout.
Hill signed a multi-year deal with ESPN in 2016 that reportedly paid her $2.5 million per year. Though the amount seems high, a buyout of around $6 million could make sense if she had a few years left on her deal.
Hill, 42, joined ESPN in late 2006. She began as a national columnist and served as a guest/panelist on several TV shows. She and Michael Smith began co-hosting a show on ESPN2 in 2013, which took off. The show eventually was moved to the coveted 6:00 pm ET “SportsCenter” time slot in 2017, where it proved to be a poor fit.
Hill’s fate at ESPN seemed to be sealed last year when she got into a tiff with the president, which created national headlines. Her desire to continue speaking about social issues made her a poor fit at ESPN, which is trying to avoid politics.
Hill, who was named journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists, plans to continue growing her social voice through her production company, Lodge Freeway Media.
