Jemele Hill, former ESPN host and columnist, joins the Atlantic as editor to cover "the intersection of sport, race, politics, gender and culture," said Jeffrey Goldberg , editor of the magazine. announced monday morning.

Hill, 42, left ESPN in August after nearly 12 years with the company, most recently as a columnist for The Undefeated, a website dedicated to racial and cultural issues related to sport. She has become one of the best-known sports media figures in recent years because of her desire to get into politics, praising others and criticizing others, including the US president.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hill said that she was ready to "spread my wings in different ways" and that her relationship with ESPN had "kept pace".

"There is a wider playground in which I can swim, and places where discomfort is right," she told the magazine. "I could not be happy with myself if I did not respect that call that is appealing to me now."

Hill was a columnist and podcaster at ESPN before being promoted to co-host "SportsCenter" edition alongside Michael Smith. His tweets about President Donald Trump, including the one who called him a "white supremacist" caused a backlash at the end of last year.

Critics cited Hill's tweets as proof that ESPN had become too political in its coverage of sports, which she described to the Hollywood Reporter as a "silly story".

"Mike and I were specifically called policies long before Trump things happened," she told the magazine, referring to her former co-host "SportsCenter." "And I've always thought it was a very interesting label because frankly, I think most of the time it was said because we were both blacks."

Hill also recounts LeBron James' upcoming documentary series "Shut Up and Dribble," which will debut on SHOWTIME in November.

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.