Stephen A. Smith is backtracking on his comments about U.S Rep Jasmine Crockett.
Last week, Smith, on his Sirius XM show Straight Shooter, suggested that Crockett’s rhetorical style does not “help your district.” He believes that she focuses too much on attacking Trump rather than helping the constituents in her district.
“I have nothing but respect for [Crockett]. I just disagree on what she’s making headlines for because I think it’s counterproductive to the ultimate goal,” he explained. Throughout the 41-minute response, Smith feels Crockett is “just being an impediment to what Trump wants,” but claims he isn’t being disrespectful or misogynistic.
Smith feels “many of [Crockett’s] major efforts are still works in progress, bills stuck committees introduced but have stalled, etc. According to Congress.Gov, I’m just reading!” He added, “While she’s great at fundraising, the challenge for her was cultivating relationships in Congress. And what does that mean? Potentially going across the aisle when you don’t want to.
He continued to question her effectiveness, stating, “What I was saying was, this educated, brilliant Black woman, representing 750,000 people, is engaging in verbiage and rhetoric for the streets.”
Apology Issued
On Wednesday (Oct 22), Smith taped an impromptu segment of his SiriusXM show to issue a public apology to Crockett. While he didn’t retract his previous comments, he acknowledged how his words could have been used by Trump as “ammunition” to demean Black women:
“I get it now, with Trump feeding into that nonsense, giving him fodder or ammunition, to continue to go out there and talk about our Black women that way. I got it. I don’t like that at all. I don’t want to be associated with nothing like that, and I apologize because I respect the hell out of Jasmine Crockett and what she has accomplished. I absolutely do. And I appreciate the fact that she feels compelled to fight the way that she’s fought, the way that she fights because of what she’s dealing with.”
“I’ve been a journalist for over 30 years. I don’t want enemies. I truly don’t. But I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to call it like I see it. It should be done respectfully. It should be done with the sensitivity that it needs to be done with. I get it. I understand. But I’m going to be me. I’m going to call it like I see it. I can look Jasmine Crockett in the face and say, “I’m sorry for any kind of noise I caused in your direction,” because she is accomplished, and she is smart, and she does have an incredible, incredible challenge working in this political climate on Capitol Hill. I got it.”