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Who is Marc Lamont Hill? TV personality shares tragic news of sister's death one day after burying father

Hill is an academician and television personality who was fired from CNN in 2018 over a speech that was deemed anti-semitic

Professor and television personality, Marc Lamont Hill, on December 30, announced on Twitter that his sister died a day after the family buried his father. Many took to Twitter to express their condolences including author Don Winslow and Representative Rashida Tlaib. The cause of Hill's sister's death is unclear, however, he had tweeted earlier this year of his father's illness and hospitalization.

Hill tweeted, "My sister died this morning. We just buried our father yesterday. This is the cruelest year that I’ve ever experienced." Many responded to his news with messages of comfort and condolences. Tlaib tweeted, "Marc, I am so so sorry. This must be so painful. Sending you love." Winslow responded, "Marc, I am so very sorry. I don't have the words for your losses. I am just so sorry."

Who is Marc Lamont Hill?

Marc is an academic, author, activist and television personality known for hosting 'Our World with Black Enterprise' and The Huffington Posts 'HuffPost Live'. Hill also hosts 'VH1! Live, and reunion shows for 'Basketball Wives'. He is also a correspondent for BET News and was formerly a political commentator for CNN and Fox News.

In 2018, CNN fired him as a political commentator after Hill's speech at the United Nations to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was deemed anti-semitic. In his speech, Hill said, "We must advocate and promote non-violence," but added that "we cannot endorse a narrow politics of respectability that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in the face of state violence and ethnic cleansing." Hill also called for a "free Palestine from the river to the sea."

Hill initially responded to criticism of his speech, tweeting, "I gave a speech at the UN in which I critiqued Israel’s polices and practices toward Palestinians. It’s baffling how people are not responding to the critique, but instead responding to things I didn’t actually say." He later tweeted, "My reference to “river to the sea” was not a call to destroy anything or anyone. It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza. The speech very clearly and specifically said those things. No amount of debate will change what I actually said or what I meant."

Hill first tweeted about his father's hospitalization in March this year and later tweeted to notify of his death in December. He wrote in March, "My 92 year old father is gravely ill and has spent the last 3 weeks in the hospital. He cannot be visited because of Carona. He is alone. He was just discharged to his nursing home facility that it also locked down. We just have to keep calling and praying he’s ok. This is tough." On his father's death, he wrote, "My father passed away early this morning. 92 years old. I’m grateful that I got to see his face yesterday and make him laugh one last time. Although I’ve lost a great deal of my joy, I’m trying to find comfort in the fact that he has lost all of his pain. Rest Well, Dad."

Hill was also friends with basketball legend Kobe Bryant who died earlier this year in a helicopter crash. The pair had met at a basketball camp in Philadelphia when they were teenagers. On Bryant's death, Hill tweeted, "I first met Kobe 26 years ago. We were kids. Had no idea where life would take us. But basketball was everything. Last time I saw him, we didn’t discuss hoops. We were talking about life, raising daughters, and how far everybody had come. Now he’s gone. This makes no sense."