Jemele Hill: Stephen A. Smith ‘Shouldn’t Be Saying the Same Things that the Right-Wing People Are Saying’

EXCERPT:

HILL: "I’m very happy for Stephen A.’s success. I think so many younger journalists look up to him and he’s given them a different set of information -- of inspiration. He’s given them a different picture of how high you can rise in this business. And so, it’s also why we do have a different expectation for him. Fair or not, we do. As someone who comes from the community, whose success was propelled by the community, then we — there is an expectation that you will talk about the community, not dishonestly, but with care. And I think that is the part that — maybe of this self-reflection — he missed. Nobody is saying that you gotta give people passes. Nobody is saying that you have to give people breaks. Fairness is, I think, the least of what you can expect. I think the other part of it is that having that consciousness to understand, especially when you are on the stage of a mainstream media, you can’t be saying the same things that the right-wing people are saying.”