Jemele Hill has released a statement denying allegations that ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman left her a racist voicemail, the Washington Post reports.

The claims stemmed from a lawsuit filed by former ESPN legal analyst Adrienne Lawrence who is currently suing the company for sexual harassment. In her suit, Lawrence said Berman left Hill “a threatening and racially disparaging” voicemail on her ESPN phone line in 2016.

Hill admitted that she and Berman had a personal conflict but insisted there was no voicemail and that she was satisfied with how ESPN handled the situation. She expressed her disappointment in Lawrence for making the accusation.

“Frankly, I'm more disappointed that someone I considered to be a friend at one point would misrepresent and relay a private conversation without my knowledge — in which I simply attempted to be a sounding board — for personal gain,” she wrote.

Re: Chris Berman pic.twitter.com/p7NqjHiV7r

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) March 6, 2018

Lawrence wasn’t pleased with Hill’s response and challenged her to release the voicemail.

"I'll be damned if anyone says this is for my personal gain," she said to Think Progress. "Play the voicemail then, the one that you kept. Play it, I know you have it. I've never heard it. I went off of her description of it."

Lawrence expressed that she struggled with the decision to include her former co-workers’ stories and that she was disappointed that she wasn’t getting any support.

“I can’t leave those girls behind. I couldn’t just take a paycheck and be silenced, and it’s disappointing that others can,” Lawrence said. “It’s really disappointing to see all of these women who have the power to say something, and yet they will do anything to protect the shield. The shield abused them when they were on the way up, and it will abuse them on their way down.”

Hill’s time at ESPN has been a subject of conversation among her colleagues. Last month, her former co-host Michael Smith accused ESPN of trying to push Hill out after the controversy over her tweets about the NFL protests, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“There was a time we weren’t even talking to each other [on air] anymore," Smith said on the podcast Origins. Like no more Michael and Jemele, not less, not here and there. No more Michael and Jemele talking. No more of their commentary. It’s just strictly live shots and analysts. That’s what pissed me off so much.”

Smith continued, “I’m like, so wait a second, you all acknowledge that one of the strengths that we have going for us as a show is Michael and Jemele’s chemistry, but Michael and Jemele don’t f*cking talk to each other? How does that make sense?”

Hill left SportsCenter in February for The Undefeated.

chris berman

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