Jemele Hill and Cari Champion Break Down Barriers with New Show ‘Stick to Sports’

Jemele Hill and Cari Champion are breaking down barriers as they debut their talk show “Cari & Jemele: Stick To Sports” for VICE TV.

During an exclusive interview with TooFab, the two accomplished sports anchors and journalists detailed how they will cover sports, politics, news and pop culture with their unique brand of banter and wit, all while filling in a representation gap on television.

“Find me another show where you see two Black women leading the conversation and also executive producing for that matter,” Cari said. “Without it being something that is directly related to being an actress or being under the guise of a network that only allows you to contain your Blackness — they don’t mind it and they tolerate it, but they don’t allow you to use that as an example of what is going on.”

“There is no denying that we are Black and there’s no denying that we’re Black women.”

The ESPN vet went on to say how mainstream America often asks Black people to “control” their “ethnicity, Blackness, flavor and swag” on television, but “Cari & Jemele: Stick To Sports” will be making new rules that do away with that notion.

“What we’re going to do is be very unapologetic about who we are. My goal is to show that Black people are not monolithic,” Cari explained, while pointing out her and Jemele are, indeed, both Black, but also very different.

One component of the program, called “Is That Racist,” highlights the pair’s natural ability to educate and entertain simultaneously.

During it, Cari asked Jemele if Eskimo Pies were racist, to which Jemele answered affirmatively, but only because “someone” told her they were racist.

“The ‘Is That Racist’ segment is not only an opportunity to talk about some of the things that we’ve been discussing — well, for Black people, we’ve been discussing since we were born — but, in terms of the national conversation, there’s not only the opportunity to talk about the things we’ve been talking about as a country, but it’s also an opportunity to show that these issues are very nuanced and there’s an education that does need to happen,” added Cari.

As for how this particular show all came together, Jemele said the idea was born as many great ideas are — over a bottle of wine.

“Because we both had shows and we were on each other’s shows, I think we kind of had an idea that we might work together one day at the back of our minds,” Jemele detailed. “But it didn’t really crystallize until we were both living in LA. And Carrie was the one who really took the initiative and basically showed up at my house with a wine and a camera crew.”

“We got drunk,” interjected Cari. “We. Got. Drunk.”

Jemele added with a laugh, “Yeah, we got drunk and then we filmed it ’cause that’s what you do when you get drunk.”

Even with their undeniable chemistry and ability to riff off of each other, the pair wanted to make sure it would all translate on screen for their own production.

“There are plenty of people who are friends in real life, but they’re not all meant to help come up with television shows together,” said Jemele. “So, I mean, we hadn’t really been shopping the idea at all. That was the intention to do it at some point. Then a friend of ours just happened to know somebody at Vice and they knew that we had been kind of working on this and you know, the rest, as they say, is history.”

“The whole show is us sitting at home, drinking wine, educating the world,” Cari quipped. “That’s what we do daily. We just convinced Vice to pay us and put us in good clothes and makeup.”

And when asked about her claim during one of the clips that she puts ketchup on her tacos, Cari was unwavering in her belief that she doesn’t think “anything is wrong with it.”

“Ok, not carne asada,” she began. “People don’t understand it. I need to start explaining it. Like, if you eat ground beef or ground turkey, it’s like having a hamburger and putting ketchup on your hamburger. So just put it in a shell.”

Cari adamantly added, “It’s a salsa derivative.”

“Just because it has tomatoes, does not mean it’s a salsa derivative,” cut in Jemele.

“It does too,” Cari ended the conversation.

We cannot wait for more of the hilarious ladies’ repartee, as “Cari & Jemele: Stick To Sports” premieres Aug 19th @ 10 PM ET/PT on VICE TV.