Jemele Hill says she deserved ESPN ban: ‘Me and ESPN are fine'

Jemele Hill says everything is fine and dandy between her and ESPN as the studio host wraps up her two-week benching from the network this weekend.

Hill told TMZ that she bears no ill will with the Worldwide Leader, which suspended her after she tweeted about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ stance on the national anthem.

"Me and ESPN are fine,” Hill said, per TMZ. “I know it's great conjecture to think about what might happen but we're fine. We're in a good place. I'm happy to be back at the network."

After Jones said he would bench anyone on his team who took a knee during the anthem, Hill tweeted that fans who disagreed could express their disapproval by targeting Cowboys advertisers.

“If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers,” Hill posted on Oct. 8. “Don’t place the burden squarely on the players.”

Hill later insisted she wasn’t advocating an NFL boycott, but ESPN nevertheless suspended her for what the network said was a “second violation of our social media guidelines.”

Hill, who received support from colleagues, athletes and celebrities during her two-week silence, told the gossip site she believes the network treated her fairly.

"ESPN acted what they felt was right. I don't have any argument or quibble with that,” she said. “I will tell people absolutely, after my Donald Trump tweets, I deserved that suspension. I deserved it. I violated the policy. I deserved the suspension. Going forward we'll be in a good, healthy place, it'll be fine and I'm looking forward to it.”

Hill returns to “The Six” with co-host Michael Smith on Monday after igniting a firestorm of both support and criticism last month for her tweet that referred to President Trump as a “white supremacist.”

ESPN had subsequently said in a statement that Hill’s comments “regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN.”

Trump, who has praised Jones during his weeks-long condemnation of anthem protesters, responded on Twitter by blaming Hill for ESPN’s ratings having “tanked.”

Hill told TMZ there were in fact never any restrictions placed on her regarding her Twitter account, and that she plans to return to Twitter as “my usual self.”

Hill added that she has only one regret about the situation.

“The only thing I ever apologized for is I put ESPN in a bad spot,” she said. “I'll never take back what I said. I put them in a bad spot. I regret the position I put them in. I regret the positon we put our show in. I'll never take back what I said.”