Back in June 2021, Jemele Hill signed a deal with Spotify to launch her own podcast network, The Unbothered Network, so she could provide more voices for black women. Over the last year, she has been able to tell many stories, but the business relationship can sometimes be a tricky one.
Hill was a guest on the That’s What She Said with Sarah Spain podcast, which Spain called her “last, for now” episode this week and she said that in any business relationship she has, she wants to know how the company will respond when she says something that people might deem controversial.
“Mostly what I think about now with the business relationships that I have is inevitably, I’m going to say something that’s going to be ahead of my time. When this happens, what’s going to be your response? That determines a lot. This Spotify relationship. All I can tell people is it’s complicated.”
One name Hill brought up on the podcast is Spotify’s business relationship with Joe Rogan and while Hill doesn’t agree with Rogan, she knows Spotify won’t ever ask her to change how she thinks:
“I don’t know Joe Rogan, I’m not here for Joe Rogan. He’s terrible. He irresponsibly uses his platform all the time. The way Spotify operates is it’s like the McDonald’s corporation. They lend out franchises. Maybe it would be a different conversation if they had ever come to me and said you know what, you can’t say that but they let Joe Rogan say whatever. That would be different.
“In their minds, they are just like we’re just the platform. Yes, we will clean up what we can but other than that, it’s out of our hands. They have given me the same treatment. If that were different, I’d say we have a problem here, but we don’t.
“On top of that, with me developing this podcast network for black women, that’s more important than Joe Rogan. It wouldn’t have made any sense for me to end the relationship with Spotify, which would have been very costly and wanting to make sure this network got off the ground was very important to me. I’m not going to walk away from that for somebody I don’t know.”
Hill told Spain that when she left ESPN in 2018, she still had multiple years left on her contract and she could have stayed, but she wanted to feel she could say whatever she wants to say.
“I could have stayed at ESPN. I had 3 more years left on my contract. That would not have been an issue. It was about the fact that I knew that I had more to say in different spaces and being there wasn’t going to allow me to do it. It felt constricting to be there. It doesn’t feel constricting for me to be at The Atlantic or Spotify. I can pretty much say what I want to say.
“That’s not to even suggest that I have something so earth-shattering to say, but I can do it without some of the other corporate politics that I would have had to deal with at ESPN. I can pretty much blast the NFL into oblivion at The Atlantic because they don’t have a business relationship with the NFL.”
In her post-ESPN ventures, Hill mentioned she enjoys that she can pick whichever projects she wants to be a part of.
“What I love is that when an opportunity comes in, it’s only one email, it’s me. There’s no kicking it upstairs, there’s no let me go see. I just respond yes or no or my assistant responds yes or no. I don’t have to run it past anybody. That freedom is invaluable.”
“Another thing that I like about this season I am in in my career is that I do get to cherry-pick certain projects. I’ve got to hustle like everybody else, don’t get me wrong, but the things I’m involved with, I’m super passionate about. That feels good to know you are pouring into something that you feel like is meaningful.”
