When white nationalist Nick Fuentes recently praised ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, it was just the latest in a series of data points showing how the loudest voice in sports entertainment has become a boon to MAGA world.
Fuentes praised Smith, arguably ESPN’s most cherished employee, for being “clearly” red-pilled (a term for those who have embraced right-wing ideology) since he hosted far-right influencer Candace Owens on his show.
Smith’s far-right sympathies have seemed clear to me for years. I still remember, as a high schooler, witnessing his weak defense — interestingly enough, on MSNBC — of right-wingers who formed the anti-Obama tea party back in 2009. And a report I covered last year, highlighting various platforms that disseminate right-wing propaganda and misinformation among Black audiences, listed Smith’s show as one of the top culprits.
Last year, for example, Smith told his friend Sean Hannity, whose Fox News show he has appeared on numerous times, that liberals were weaponizing the legal system to stop Donald Trump’s momentum ahead of the 2024 election.
“Primarily, I have voted Democrat throughout my life, but I’m utterly disgusted with what I’m seeing,” he said.
Smith’s embrace of the MAGA movement and its influencers has only continued since then.
Smith’s embrace of the MAGA movement and its influencers has only continued since then. In recent days, for example, he has spoken with right-wing commentators Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly. You might be thinking that these were adversarial chats between a left-leaning “centrist” and a conservative — but to adroit listeners, they can come across more as conservatives in friendly discussion than anything else.
In his conversation with Shapiro, in which the two disagreed over whether Trump should pardon Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, Smith called Shapiro “a pretty brilliant dude.” Smith also praised the job Shapiro has done at The Daily Wire, the platform he launched that has become a cesspool of right-wing propaganda. Appearing on Kelly’s show, Smith said “it’s just so bad on the left right now,” called himself a centrist — and said it would be a “cakewalk” for him to win the Democratic primaries for president in 2028. And while hosting O’Reilly, Smith accused Democrats of “hypocrisy” because Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., used words like “waste” and “abuse” years ago while discussing Medicare. This seemed like odd bothsidesism that lacked context and gave Smith an opportunity to do what he’s been known to do lately: target liberals and provide the Trump administration some cover. Smith’s overt politicism seems to fly in the face of ESPN’s apparent effort, in recent years, to deter some of its talent from speaking on controversial political matters. Either way, the network’s most recognizable host is now regularly platforming MAGA propaganda at will.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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