It has been more than a year since Jemele Hill Unbothered ended production, and now the journalist, author, and former ESPN host is returning to the medium for a new weekly series that will mix sports and politics. Hill is partnering with iHeartPodcasts to produce Spolitics, a podcast that will focus on what’s become a bigger intersection of sports, race, gender, sexuality, and politics.
Each week, Hill will tackle topics such as immigration, reproductive rights, affordable housing, and gender equity. Spolitics says it aims to “spark important political and cultural conversations that challenge the narratives surrounding these critical issues in the world of sports” with “sharp” commentary and in-depth discussions with athletes, prominent sports figures and politicians including sports personalities.
“I’m very excited to join iHeartPodcasts during this critical time in American politics. Sports and politics always have been connected and on this podcast I’ll be exploring that deep connection with important newsmakers and smart people,” Hill said in a statement. “The goal is to use the unifying element of sports as a lens to make people better understand that politics touches every corner of our lives.”
In episode one, Hill will sit down with sports media personality Dan Le Batard to discuss his career as a sports media personality, his life growing up as the child of Cuban exiles and how it shaped his perspective on politics. Hill will also be joined by Bill Rhoden, author of “Forty Million Dollar Slaves,” to discuss the history of sports and politics dating back to George Washington’s presidency in the 1700s.
Spolitics joins iHeartMedia’s new political podcast slate Reasoned Choice Media, which amplifies diverse voices throughout the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The series will premiere Oct. 17. New episodes will publish on Thursdays, with the show distributed by iHeartPodcasts and will be available everywhere podcasts are heard.
Hill rose to popularity as a guest and later sideline reporter on ESPN college football games. Her foray into daily television began in 2013, when her and co-host Michael Smith began the daily sports discussion show His & Hers, which sprang from their popular podcast of the same name. In February 2017, Hill and Smith co-anchored the 6pm, SportsCenter, which debuted as a more personality-driven approach to the traditional SportsCenter. After her stint as SportsCenter host, Hill was a senior columnist for The Undefeated, ESPN’s sub-site that focuses on the intersection of sports, race, culture and politics.
She then launched Jemele Hill is Unbothered in 2019 and made the jump to Spotify, where they jointly launched the Unbothered Network in 2021 under a deal between her production company Lodge Freeway Media. But the two parted ways last year and Jemele Hill is Unbothered ended production in July 2023.
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