Michelle Obama namechecked Stephen A. Smith on her podcast this week as part of a discussion about how sports coverage mirrors Real Housewives drama.
Smith used the opportunity to rehash his resentments over comments Obama made leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election.
“It’s all a sociological study,” said Obama while refuting her brother and husband’s assertions that sports are more dramatic than reality TV. “They think that sports is better reality TV, I’m like, ‘it’s the same thing.’ If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it’s like watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta, 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 [Real Housewife]… So that’s why I’m like, what’s the difference? It’s just, you know, it’s just sociological drama.”
Even though he’s on vacation, Smith just had to respond. He made sure to discuss the segment on the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show. However, instead of reacting to the interesting point that Obama was trying to make, he used the opportunity to air his grievances.
Smith started with some praise, saying Michelle Obama is the best First Lady in history and that he appreciates knowing the Obamas watch First Take (an assumption he made based on the conversation).
He then says he would like to see Obama have “dissenting opinions” on her podcast, which seems like a strange request given what her podcast is about. It’s not a debate show.
Oddly, he then thanked Obama for comparing him to Bravo’s Andy Cohen, which she never did. That appeared to be a leap in logic that he made based on the conversation. If anything, he was compared to one of the cast members on a Real Housewives show.
Finally, Smith gets to the meat of what he actually wants to talk about, which has nothing to do with Obama’s comments or conversation.
“With all seriousness, Michelle Obama, I want to take this opportunity to remind you that while you are revered by me personally, and I truly, truly mean that with the greatest sincerity, I’m still a bit salty at you,” said Smith.
“When you were campaigning on behalf of the former Vice President Kamala Harris… and you were giving a speech, I believe it was in Detroit, if I remember correctly, but I’m not sure it was in the middle of the day, it was carried live. You said a vote for Trump was a vote against you and a vote against y’all as women. 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. You’ve practically raised most of us. Think about the most hardcore individual you can find who is a Black man from the streets of America. If there is one person who can walk up to him and slap him silly and get away with it, it’s his mama or his grandma. 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. 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. I’m talking about men. There’s a reason why Trump got about 57% and Kamala Harris ended up with 42 (Ed. Note – 55% of men overall voted for Trump in 2024, 49% of men under 50 voted for Trump, while 48% supported Harris), even though Biden had won the young male vote four years earlier. Because life changes and other issues become more pertinent to people.
“Now, I voted for Kamala. Even though I wouldn’t vote for Trump, I wasn’t excited about voting for Kamala either, particularly after I heard about some of the shenanigans that the Democratic Party was engaging in leading up to the election. But I’m talking specifically to you, Madam First Lady. You are not just beloved, you are revered. You are sensational in so many ways. I’ve been on the record on this show and many others stating had you run for president, you would have beat Trump. I still believe that. If Trump somehow manages to circumvent the 22nd Amendment, which I don’t put past them and Steve Bannon and others, and he tries to seek a third term, I believe if your husband elected to come back, he would beat Trump. That’s my personal belief. But you, who never was an elected official and never aspired to, could easily. I wouldn’t say easily, but you could win an election you didn’t run.
“So this doesn’t have anything to do with what you were talking about, how sports and reality TV mirror one another, even though we would beg to differ. Because a lot of things on reality TV are made-up situations and scenarios to provoke reactions and all of that stuff. We’re at sports, that’s live entertainment, and you’re actually competing against one another is big time. No, reality TV is not like that. You’re so wrong about that, about that assertion, but that’s neither here nor there. I just saw this as an opportunity since you brought my name up, for me to bring your name up and to tell you, while you are profoundly respected and revered by me, I adore and love practically everything about you and who you are and what you represent, what you mean to this country, what you mean to so many young ladies in this world. What a incredibly motivational and inspirational figure you are. 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.
“And I feel even more adamant about what your husband, Barack Obama, said when he talked to those men in Pittsburgh and implied that to not vote for Kamala is because we’re engaging in some sort of misogyny. There are issues that matter to every American citizen. And to sort of blackmail us emotionally into trying to compel us to vote one way or another is part of what won Trump the election. Because that side of the aisle was able to look at the Left and say, ‘Look at what they’ll do to win.’ And y’all talking about him like he’s worse. And in a lot of y’all eyes, he is worse. But that didn’t make y’all clean.”
The whole thing is a real “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” conversation that Smith seems to be having with himself. While he’d aired this grievance before, he’d clearly been saving this rant up for a while and had been waiting for the right moment to unleash it. Obama’s comments could have provoked a fascinating response from an introspective Stephen A., who might want to have a dialogue about what he does for a living. However, introspection is not what Smith does.
And in a way, his response proved Obama’s point. Instead of conversation, Smith opted for the most dramatic response possible, one that had the potential to create the most messiness, just like a Real Housewife.
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