Tag Archives: Michelle Obama

#StephenASmith: “Enough With the FEELINGS – Show Me the FACTS, #NABJ!!!” #StephenA Responds To The #NABJ #ThumbsDown Criticism

Posted on by toddpanther

And here’s what NABJ said about Stephen A, according to #RichardPrince’s account:

NABJ Gives 5 – a Record – Its ‘Thumbs Down’
NABJ President Explains Why Stephen A. Smith Got a Thumbs Down Award

https://www.contrabandcamp.com/p/why-the-national-association-of-black

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https://www.instagram.com/reels/DcIJWIUJXh1

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FROM AI:

JASMINE CROCKETT

Stephen A. Smith criticized U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett’s political style, questioning if her fiery rhetoric and use of “street verbiage” against Donald Trump actually helped her constituents, before later issuing an apology after facing severe public backlash.

The Original Comments

Smith questioned on his program whether cussing out or opposing Donald Trump counts as “work,” arguing that politicians should focus on working with those in power to get things done for their district.He specifically critiqued how Crockett chooses to express herself, describing some of her communication as “street verbiage” that he doubted would be effective in legislative negotiations.

His remarks drew swift, widespread backlash from viewers, public figures, and media personalities who accused him of using coded language to police the tone and demeanor of Black women in politics.

JOY REID

The public feud between Stephen A. Smith and Joy Reid erupted when Smith blamed Reid’s departure from MSNBC on low ratings. Reid fired back on a podcast, accusing Smith of being paid massive sums by white-dominated media structures to criticize and denigrate Black women for entertainment. Smith hit back, calling the accusations baseless and stating that his critics should be “ashamed”.

Key Dimensions of the Feud

The Spark: Stephen A. Smith discussed Joy Reid’s exit from MSNBC on his show, citing a drop in her viewership numbers and claiming “the numbers don’t lie.”

Reid’s Response: Reid appeared on Naked Sports with Cari Champion and dismissed Smith’s focus on ratings, comparing his compensation to his audience size and alleging he profits by acting as a mouthpiece to say “nasty things about Black people”

Escalation: Smith dedicated segments of his digital platform to push back against Reid and other media figures like Don Lemon, accusing them of a coordinated effort to get him fired or canceled by invoking his association with ESPN and Disney.

Broader Context: The spat widened as part of a larger ongoing debate regarding Smith’s political commentary, his critiques of figures like Representative Jasmine Crockett, and accusations from media peers that he disproportionately targets prominent Black women.

SERENA WILLIAMS

On ESPN’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith criticized Serena Williams for doing a Crip-walk cameo during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, which featured the Drake diss track “Not Like Us”.

Because Williams and Drake previously dated, Smith claimed she was publicly “trolling” her ex. He remarked that if he were married to her, he would question why she was doing so and told her to “go back to his ass”.

After receiving heavy social media backlash, Smith defended his remarks on The Stephen A. Smith Show and social media, stating he was just “joking around” from a “man’s perspective” and that people were taking it too seriously. Serena’s husband, Alexis Ohanian, later addressed the situation and playfully confronted Smith on air regarding the comments. Serena herself later responded, calling her husband’s handling of it eloquent and noting she thought the whole thing was hilarious.

KAMALA HARRIS

Stephen A. Smith stated that he regrets voting for former Vice President Kamala Harris, feeling like a “damn fool” for supporting her. He criticized her post-election book and media behavior, arguing that she came across as leaderless during her campaign and only became outspoken later to sell books.

Voter Regret and Political Critique

Feeling Misled: Smith mentioned on The Sage Steele Show that he initially voted for Harris to prevent single-party chaos, but now feels he and others “fell for it” and ended up feeling like fools.

Book Backlash: He slammed Harris’s post-election memoir and “I told you so” remarks, arguing she was too quiet and protective of Joe Biden during the race only to become candid later for profit.

Political Future: Smith declared that her political career is effectively over, stating that the Democratic Party is unlikely to back her moving forward.

Past Campaign Criticism

Avoiding Interviews: During the 2024 campaign, Smith criticized Harris for sticking strictly to pep rallies and ducking formal press conferences or sit-down interviews.

Tied to Biden’s Record: He argued it was entirely fair for the public and the media to press her on the administration’s record, since she had actively claimed ownership of it.

MICHELLE OBAMA

Stephen A. Smith called out Michelle Obama after she compared ESPN to The Real Housewives of Atlanta and labeled him “just like every other talk show host”. Smith expressed offense at her 2024 campaign rhetoric implying a vote for Donald Trump was a vote against women, though he still praised her as a historic First Lady.

The Podcast Exchange and Pushback

Michelle Obama’s Critique: On her podcast IMO, Michelle Obama stated that listening to ESPN for an hour felt like watching reality TV drama with people yelling and not getting along, singling out Smith.

Smith’s Response: On The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith defended ESPN’s on-air chemistry and success, stating he took “major offense” to her campaign messaging that attempted to emotionally compel voters by framing a vote for Trump as an anti-woman stance.

Broader Context: Smith argued that voters weighed other critical factors like the economy, immigration, and national security ahead of single issues, while maintaining that Obama remains one of the greatest First Ladies.

My Reaction to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “My President Was Black” In January/February 2017 Issue Of The Atlantic

Posted on by toddpanther

coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates does an outstanding job here as a post-Black Nationalist foil to President Obama, explaining the latter’s lifelong attempt to become Captain America.  He really does a good job undressing the first Black President as a Black man who, because he grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia and completely loved and trusted his white family, he had the attitude/worldview that allowed White America to, in turn, completely trust him with the keys. (Coates correctly points out that Obama was in younger days an activist, not a protester; that says a lot when you think about it.) In many ways, I think that this is Coates’ breakthrough article, because now he can stop being an embedded journalist to Black Star Power. So enough of this I’m-trying-to-figure-all-this-stuff-out-without-offending-you-good-white-intellectuals role he has played to his loving white audience. Clearly, he has enough power, savings and fame by now. 🙂 Under President Trump’s naked, White Nationalist oppression, I hope Coates, a very talented writer who has played the game well, will now directly say what he really feels about white Americans, and White America, to a white readership who, interestingly enough, now trusts him enough that they will be ready to hear him. (I hope the lesson that will not be learned from all this is that white trust is essential for Black success and power, but that ship has probably already sale-d.) Coates will hopefully now tell truths undiluted by “dreams” (his or anyone else’s), or “Dreamers,” his annoyingly euphemistic name for whites in “Between The World and Me,” his award-winning update of James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time.”  Well, that next time came about three weeks ago. It’s woke-ness for everybody. Time to share the pain. Time to stop dancing what my friend, the writer Ericka Blount Danois, calls “the soft shoe.” Or, as Baldwin himself says in “Blues For Mr. Charlie,” his play inspired by the lynching of Emmett Till:

Richard: You still determined to break your neck.

Juanita: Well, it’s a neck-breaking time. I wouldn’t like to appear to be above the battle.

 

Mini-Book Review: For Coretta Scott King, A Time To Break Silence

Posted on by toddpanther

coretta

My Life, My Love, My Legacy.
Coretta Scott King, as told to the Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds.
Henry Holt and Company.
368 pp., $30.

The first First Lady of Black America has a lot to say, particularly since her first memoir, from 1969, was revised, not updated, about 25 years ago. Veteran Black journalist Barbara Reynolds, no stranger to chronicling the Civil Rights Movement, lets Coretta, who died in 2006, be Coretta, and the widow decided that meant turning her life into a Christian fable, a generation-filled testimony of faith and courage. The first half of the book re-hashes her time with MLK, but it’s the second half that awakens the reader from a black-and-white documentary slumber. That second act is where King details her struggles to create the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, and makes sure to, in a gentle Christian fashion, settle old scores against her husband’s former comrades-in-arms.  So Jesse Jackson, Ralph Abernathy, Hosea Williams and, later, the Black American apartheid activist Randall Robinson, are briefly portrayed as Black men who attempted to deny King the Black leadership mantle she said she inherited from God and Martin. King wanted this book to make clear to history that she was an important part of a dangerous movement for Black liberation (“We forged a rough and blood-drenched road, but Martin never looked for easy victories”). She convinces the reader that she was a well-respected national and international human rights leader in her own right–a Blackish heir to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was dubbed “The First Lady of the World,” and, to a lesser extent, singer-activist Paul Robeson. (Her story is sometimes candid, but other times exactly that, a story: for example, ignoring reams of documented history to the contrary, she claims her husband never cheated on her.) As Black America moves to permanently claim a younger, hipper, actual First Lady, it might be important to remember when thinking about both women that maintaining a public display of dignity–something they both mastered–was not enough; that it was direct, dangerous action against the forces of war, capitalism and white supremacy, accepting a life of risk that Coretta knew all too well, that made real, lasting history.