Stephen A. Smith Responds To Michelle Obama’s Shots At Him And ESPN

Stephen A. Smith has issued a pointed, yet respectful response to former First Lady Michelle Obama after she took a verbal jab at him and ESPN’s First Take. On a recent episode of her IMO podcast, Obama didn’t hold back in her critique of ESPN’s flagship debate show, suggesting that the network has veered away from actual sports analysis in favor of theatrics and melodrama. “If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it’s like watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” Obama said. “I mean, Stephen A. Smith, he’s like every other talk show host. The comparison didn’t sit well with Smith, who addressed the comment on his own Stephen A. Smith Show, delivering a nuanced, yet emotionally charged rebuttal. While he acknowledged his deep respect for the former First Lady, he also made it clear that he felt both personally and politically slighted “While you are revered to me personally, I’m still a bit salty at you,” Smith said. “Black men don’t just love our Black women, we revere y’all. To say what you said back then, I think to this day is the only thing I didn’t like that you said. I didn’t appreciate it. Smith was referring to Obama’s previous assertion that “a vote for Trump” is “a vote against us,” a message he found emotionally coercive and politically reductive. He pushed back against the notion that Black voters, especially Black men, should be expected to vote a particular way. “Because there’s so many things that go into deciding where your vote is going to go. For some people, it’s all about the economy. For others, it’s all about national security. For some people, it is immigration. For some people, it’s safety in the streets of America. Long before they think about pro-choice or pro-life. He didn’t stop there. Challenging the IMO podcast’s format, Smith added, “I would like to see you have some people on your podcast with dissenting opinions. So they could have an opportunity to clap back.

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