Stephen A. Smith joined Jon Stewart on Monday night’s episode of The Daily Show.
And as has often been the case in such settings, the conversation inevitability shifted to the ESPN star’s own political aspirations.
Stewart didn’t outright ask Smith whether or not he’ll be running for president as he has publicly flirted with doing in recent months, but he did ask what about doing so would appeal to the First Take host. And while the 57-year-old insisted that he isn’t interested in running for office, he did state his desire to be a “major player” in the political arena.
“People think people think I’m interested in being an elected official. I have no desire to be that,” Smith insisted. “I’d have to give up a lot of money to do that… the way I look at it is that the money that I have earned working my ass off all of these years, now I would have to curry favor, which means I would be owned, and I ain’t having that. So I’m not interested in that at all.
“But having said that, like I consider you to be and various others, I wanna be a major player in terms of a voice and a conduit for change. I wanna make sure that people know that the B.S. has got to stop.”
Yet despite downplaying his own aspirations as a potential candidate, Smith proceeded to launch into what sure sounded a lot like a stump speech.
“You wanna be a hell-raiser. You wanna make sure you make people uncomfortable and that they’re not gonna get away with the B.S. that they’ve been getting away with. Because I believe white, Black, and everything in between, society as a whole, by and large, are a lot of great God-fearing individuals that can get along just fine. I think the politicians in this country have served to divide us and paint us against one another for their own selfish deeds.
“And I think that they have contributed to the demise of this country. So I don’t mind calling them out at all. I don’t give a damn who it is. It could be a councilman, it could be a mayor, it could be a governor, it could be a senator or a representative, the president himself. I could care less; whoever needs to go needs to go.”
Taking Smith at his word, it appears we can end the conversation about him running for president, which was perhaps always less realistic than it typically received credit for. At the same time, don’t expect him to stop weighing in on such matters anytime soon. If anything, his comments indicate that he’s only just getting started.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.