Stephen A. Smith: Calls to cancel me over Crockett comments ‘shameful’
Stephen A. Smith fiercely defended himself on Monday against “shameful” calls to for him to be canceled over his criticism of Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s (D-Texas) approach to politics.
In a “special edition” of SiriusXM’s “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.,” the media commentator addressed his online critics who accused him of “disrespecting” a “powerful Black woman” when he questioned whether Crockett’s polarizing rhetoric is serving her constituents in Texas and encouraged her to work across the aisle.
“The one thing that will never happen, I will never succumb to, I will never surrender to, is somebody intimidating and trying to rally folks against me to quell what I have to say. Bump that. I ain’t built that way,” Smith said, toward the end of a 40-minute episode devoted to addressing the criticism.
“Facts are facts: Jasmine Crockett is a representative out of Texas who, I believe’s heart’s in the right place, is incredibly passionate, definitely intelligent, with a damn good resume,” he continued. “All I’m saying is that, at some point in time, when you want to get things done, you got to walk across the aisle and deal with people that you don’t want to deal with.”
Smith specifically addressed those calling for the public to stop supporting his show.
“Everybody has their thoughts and opinions, and I get that. But to call for a rally for me to be canceled? That’s shameful. It’s immature,” he said, adding that he’s not going anywhere and plans to expand his platform in the future.
Smith opened the show on Monday by describing “what I had to endure this weekend” from “an abundance of people talking a whole lot of stuff about me because they did not like what I had to say about Rep. Jasmine Crockett.”
He replayed the remarks from last week’s episode and doubled down on his comments, emphasizing his respect for Crockett while reiterating his concern that her approach is ineffective and plays into GOP talking points.
“Ladies, I respect intelligent women, no doubt. But how Jasmine Crockett chooses to express herself, I’m like, is that going to help your district in Texas? Aren’t you there to find a way to get stuff done as opposed to just being an impediment to what Trump wants? How much work goes into that? ‘I’m just gonna go off about Trump, cuss him out every chance I get, say the most derogatory, incendiary things imaginable, and that’s my day’s work,’” Smith said last week, purporting to summarize Crockett’s view.
“That ain’t work,” he continued. “Work is saying, ‘That’s the man in power. I know what his agenda is. I’m not exactly in a position to stop him, since the Republicans have the Senate and the House. But maybe if I’m willing to work with this man, I might get something out of it for my constituency.’”
In the latest episode, Smith highlighted some of Crockett’s remarks in the past that he suggested undermined her supposed goal of helping Democrats win elections and serving her constituents.
He played a clip of her calling Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, “Governor Hot Wheels,” adding, “And the only thing that is hot about him is that he’s a hot-ass mess.”
Smith described that language as “rhetoric for the streets” and questioned how it would serve the people in her district.
“When you’re in her position, that’s not going to get you anywhere. That’s what I was saying. What I was saying was, this educated, brilliant Black woman — representing over 750,000 people — is engaging in verbiage and rhetoric for the streets, and that’s fine when you in the streets. How many of y’all bring the streets to the table when you at the negotiating table trying to get a deal done? How many of you are able to think that for a second that you able to bring street verbiage to Capitol Hill and that’s going to work for you?”
Smith said Republicans on Capitol Hill then go begging networks to put the sound bite “front and center on camera.”
“Why would they do that? Because they know it wins for them,” Smith said.
He encouraged Crockett to focus on winning elections and instead consider positioning herself to advance professionally, either by becoming a federal judge, challenging an incumbent Republican senator or running for a committee chairmanship.
“And what I was saying was I appreciate her passion, her intellect, the fact that her heart and her willingness to be courageous and all of those things are in the right place. But, my God, isn’t it about winning, too? Isn’t it about getting it done?”