On a recent episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Jemele Hill did not mince her words when it came to criticizing action film star, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Hill, a veteran sports journalist, painted Johnson’s recent withdrawal of his endorsement of President Joe Biden as nothing short of “political cowardice.”
Hill expressed her belief that Johnson, despite purporting he would keep his political ballot private, implicitly offered support to Biden’s opponent, Donald Trump.
In her eyes, given the binary nature of US presidential elections, Johnson’s refusal to endorse Biden is equivalent to casting his lot with Trump.
“Because I wasn’t going around wondering who The Rock was voting for, so I don’t know why he decided he needed to share that.” 🔽https://t.co/cfDOTtsLL2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 9, 2024
“Even though he said he was going to keep his ballot to himself, he actually didn’t,” Hill said of Johnson. “Because there’s only one other person who will be the nominee. So unless you plan to write in yourself … you have made your decision that you plan to vote for xenophobia and bigotry and all these other things that you claim to stand against.”
Hill discussed her confusion over why Johnson would describe endorsing Biden as ‘divisive’, particularly considering his past support for Biden in 2020.
She argued that this unfounded fear of divisiveness might contribute to escalating tensions in America’s already volatile political landscape.
“If (Johnson) wants to stop the division, then he shouldn’t at all make it seem like he is aligned with the side that is pushing only division,” Hill said. “That’s their entire agenda. They have no policy. The entire thing that they have is to get you to hate somebody else that you perceive is lower on the totem pole than you.”
“I love Dwayne Johnson. During my time at ESPN, if you asked people the No. 1 person when they came through and did the ‘carwash’ who was the best person … in terms of how they interacted with people, how nice they were, it was easily The Rock or No. 2 would be Kevin Hart,” Hill said. “And that’s the kind of frankly political cowardice that’s hard to respect.”
Regardless of her strong political disagreement, Hill expressed her fondness for Johnson.
“I just thought that wasn’t his best moment, and it was so unnecessary, too,” Hill said. “Because I wasn’t going around wondering who The Rock was voting for, so I don’t know why he decided he needed to share that.”
As a previous ESPN correspondent, she recalled Johnson as being beloved by her colleagues for his affable demeanor.
