Recent comments made by Stephen A. Smith in an interview prompted Joy Reid to go all in on the ESPN media personality, focusing on his criticisms of prominent Black women, including herself and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and his political stances. Smith sat down with Linsey Davis of ABC News for an interview, and shared his thoughts on why Reid would be upset at his earlier remarks.
“She’s responding that way because when she got fired by MSNBC, her show got canceled … I spoke on it,” Smith said in the interview, which aired on Hulu on Monday (Jan. 12). “I said she is a talented, highly intelligent woman. I respect her. The issue is, if your numbers drop 47% and you are Black, in this culture that we are living in, did you really expect something else to happen? Of course, they were going to do that to you. I’m looking at it, and I’m saying, ‘I get it, and you might be right.’ But the manner in which you’re going about it, that ain’t gonna serve you well long-term.”
When Davis asked him about the critiques that prominent Black women like Reid, Jemele Hill, and Cari Champion had of him, he responded that they were only a “few” who looked at him negatively. Reid would respond in her show on Substack.
“I want you all to notice that he did not answer Linsey Davis’ question,” Reid said at the 45-minute mark of the episode. “He just did his ‘I just have so much respect for these sistas’ schtick before attacking Jasmine Crockett and me with his same old bullsh-t.” She added, “You got a lot of smoke for Black folk, but when it comes to Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump, you have no smoke for them. If you’ve been criticizing the right as you’ve been attacking people on the other side, I need to see those clips.”
Joy Reid then blasted Smith on his recent remarks about the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent. “From a lawful perspective, I think you might need to stick to sports,” she said. “What I’m saying, Stephen, personally, is that you wouldn’t have an education without men like Cleveland Sellers, nor the freedom to be loud and wrong while claiming Jasmine Crockett is loud and wrong, while you’re crying out for people to respect Donald Trump.”
