ESPN star Jemele Hill says the way Jamie Foxx shut down a live "SportsCenter" interview over a Katie Holmes question was bizarre ... since EVERYBODY knows they're dating!
Hill's good friend and former "The Six" co-host Michael Smith was the one asking the Katie Holmes question Friday when Foxx stopped the interview and walked off.
Hill says she and Smith both respect Foxx a lot -- but in this particular instance, "I thought he unnecessarily made Mike look bad."
"I thought it was kind of bizarre why he acted that way ... like I thought [Jamie's relationship with Katie] was pretty public and that everybody knew, but apparently everybody doesn't know."
Hill has a point -- Jamie and Holmes were sitting together last month at Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy party -- a VERY high profile event. So, it's not like people don't know.
Hill says the question was not supposed to be hard-hitting journalism -- just a jokey, fun question in a lighthearted interview about the NBA All-Star game.