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Stephen A Smith says he took “major offense” over remarks made by Michelle Obama during the 2024 presidential election, when the former First Lady seemingly scolded young Black men for considering to vote for Donald Trump.
The ESPN host said that while he thought of Obama as “the greatest first lady in American history,” her rhetoric while campaigning for former Vice President Kamala Harris had left him feeling “pretty salty.”
Smith made the comments on Saturday’s episode of The Stephen A Smith show, in response to being name-checked by Obama in an episode of her own podcast, IMO, in which she compared ESPN to reality television.
“If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it’s like watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta,” Obama said. “I mean, you know, it’s the same drama, and they’re yelling at each other and they don’t get along, you know? I mean, Stephen A Smith, he’s just like every other talk show host.”
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Smith made it clear that, while he disagreed with the parallel drawn, other remarks by the first lady had irritated him more.
“You said a vote for Trump was a vote against you and a vote against y’all as women,” Smith said. “I want to stay for the record, I took major offense to that. Black men don’t just love our black women, we revere y’all.
“It’s who we are. And to say what you said back then, I think to this day, is the only thing that I didn’t like that you said, I didn’t appreciate it.”
At a rally in Michigan in October, Obama told rally-goers that she was “a little frustrated” by things she had heard about why people were not fully getting behind Harris’ shot at the presidency.
Speaking directly to men, she emphasized how further restrictions on abortion and other aspects of women’s health care, proposed by the Trump campaign, would impact them and their sons, too.
“I am asking y’all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously — please,” Obama said. “Do not put our lives in the hands of politicians — mostly men — who have no clue or do not care about what we, as women, are going through.”
This struck a chord with Smith, who pointed out in his podcast episode that there were many other reasons that such men may have chosen not to vote for Harris, including the economy, national security and even immigration.
“You will never hear me utter a negative word about you, but I respectfully disagreed and still remain pretty salty about what you said about us.”
He added that he was “even more adamant about what your husband, Barack Obama said,” referring to the former president’s berating of young Black male voters, who he subtly accused of being misogynistic with their voting habits.
He pundit, who himself has been linked with a presidential run, added that he though Michelle Obama would have beaten Trump in 2024, and any other GOP candidate if she chooses to run for office.
