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Jemele Hill and Cari Champion Refuse to ‘Stick to Sports’
The ESPN alums and longtime friends team up to host a new late-night talk show on Vice TV
Over the past few years, “listen to Black women” has become a ubiquitous refrain on social media and IRL. Black women show up at the polls, amplify important issues, and mobilize the people. Still, some folks are slow to heed our advice or follow our lead. That, however, hasn’t stopped Jemele Hill and Cari Champion from voicing their incisive opinions on everything from electoral politics to the ways race and gender intersect with sports today. The two ESPN alums don’t mince words — we know Hill is never afraid to call out the occupant of the White House — and they won’t bite their tongues as hosts of their new late-night talk show, Cari and Jemele: Stick to Sports. The show, premiering tonight on Vice TV, promises to be a “middle finger” to those who demanded that the pair only talk about X’s and O’s throughout their careers.
Champion and Hill, whose friendship was forged while working at ESPN, will offer “unapologetic, engaging, and comedic perspectives on today’s issues” every week. Ahead of tonight’s kickoff episode, ZORA caught up with Champion and Hill to discuss the freedom that comes with helming Stick to Sports, supporting Kamala Harris, and how to sustain a friendship at work.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
ZORA: What is the origin story behind Stick to Sports?
Cari Champion: Working for ESPN for years and, obviously, Jemele being a writer for years in sports, whenever we interjected opinions that were not favorable to some, they would say, “Stick to sports. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t tell me about the world and society and social justice.” Anytime the conversation got uncomfortable — domestic violence in the NFL, or even in the NBA — “Stick to sports.” That’s what we always would hear. Or “Go back to the kitchen,” because we were women. So we decided to take that barb or jab and make it the name of the show and intentionally make sure we did anything but just stick to sports.
It’s sort of a play on the whole “Shut up and dribble” thing, which LeBron James turned into a documentary.
