Stephen A Smith continues to expand more into political commentary on his own podcast as well as in appearances on news programs. But Smith doesn’t appreciate that just because he might appear on Fox News from time to time, viewers at home assume he is conservative.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter released Wednesday, Smith opened up on his political identity and his relationship with Sean Hannity and Chris Cuomo while reiterating his desire to expand into live political talk someday.
“I’m a registered independent. I have voted Democrat most of the time, but sometimes I haven’t been happy about it,” Smith said. “I don’t like the idea of anybody telling me that just because I’m Black, this is what I should do. I am a centrist that leans left.”
Smith said he “loves capitalism” but supports “certain entitlement programs that uplift communities.” It bothers Smith that he gets tabbed as a conservative simply because he appears on Hannity.
“I’m not friends with him because of his politics,” Smith said. “I’m friends with him because when I was fired, he went on a mission to help me resurrect my career.”
Smith believes he balances out his political appearances by also going on Cuomo on NewsNation with former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
“They choose not to see that because they want to feed their narrative,” Smith said. “That’s children’s games. I’m a grown-up. I don’t believe for one second that because someone disagrees with me that they’re a no-good bastard — or, if you are a conservative and you happen to be Black, that it makes you a sellout. That’s weak. Let’s be substantive.”
While Smith rarely goes deep on his own political ideology, instead favoring reactions to specific stories and debates, he did fall into a conservative media mess earlier this year over Donald Trump. Smith received significant pushback over an appearance on Hannity in which he said Trump’s legal situation was “similar to what Black Americans have gone through.”
Smith later said his words were taken out of context but owned up to the blowback he received.
Still, to Smith’s credit, he is open to deeper discussions around race and politics on The Stephen A. Smith Show than many hosts would be. He often brings experts on to dissect social and political issues beyond big names and narratives.
Understandably, Smith would be reticent about his political views being generalized due to his race. And Smith in this interview again lobbied for a live political talk show in the mold of HBO’s Last Week Tonight or Real Time away from his role on First Take at ESPN.
“If I can do my debate show in the morning and then do other things, I’d be very happy with it,” Smith said.
Amid contract negotiations with Disney and armed with significant career goals and personal ambition in the political arena, Smith is making sure audiences understand where he comes from and where his line is.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.