ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith is wading into politics again, sort of. The “First Take” host was interviewed recently by Mediaite, and during that sit-down he blasted CNN host Don Lemon for his comments last month on Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Lemon was taken to task for saying Haley was “past her prime.” That didn’t sit well with Smith.
“That hurt me because I like Don Lemon,” said Smith. “She’s not some runway model for Victoria’s Secret or some other magazine or Essence magazine or something. This is a presidential candidate and a former governor, the first lady of a state. What are you talking about, she’s beyond her prime? What’s the matter with you? You know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in the Supreme Court until her 80s. … It made absolutely, positively no sense.”
Lemon’s quip that Haley isn’t in her prime was in response to Haley’s campaign launch rally in South Carolina on Feb. 15, when she said “America is not past our prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs.” In the same rally Haley, implicitly referring to 80-year-old President Joe Biden and 76-year-old former President Donald Trump, called for mental competency tests to be required of any presidential candidate over the age of 75.
Was Stephen A. Smith’s Criticism Of Don Lemon Fair?
All fair criticisms of Lemon by Smith. Lemon said a woman is “in her prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
There should never have been any comments about her “prime.” Particularly about a woman. Regardless of whether you agree with Haley’s politics or not.
Smith said Lemon shouldn’t lose his job over the mistake and said there was no need to pile on Lemon.
Smith was asked a question in an interview and he responded. But it’s interesting that he would be the asked to provide clarity and perspective on this matter.
The current talking head news cycle we find ourselves in, not just with sports but political commentary and world issues as well, is Smith’s wheelhouse. On the sports front he’s one of its architects and certainly one of its biggest beneficiaries.
Smith Understands The Media Landscape
We’ve moved away from media doing traditional journalism instead opting for personalities who opine and pontificate. The personalities are as much of the story as whatever is supposedly being covered.
When that is the recipe and what is being rewarded you get people trying to be funny or interesting when that’s not their thing, which leads to on-air gaffes, suspensions and mea culpas.
Smith understands this as well as anyone and tries his best to stay in his lane and admits to self-censoring, he told Mediaite interviewer Aidan McLaughlin.
“I self-censor because I’m responsible. What I mean by that is, Aidan, I represent ESPN, which is owned by Walt Disney. So you know what? I don’t want to say the wrong things, meaning you don’t want to curse and stuff like that over FCC airwaves,” said Smith. “You don’t want to come across as insensitive when you’re representing the brand. You have to be responsible enough to recognize that you don’t represent just yourself when you have these airwaves available to you. You represent a commodity, an entity that employs you. So in that regard, the word, you know, just being responsible comes to light. But I don’t want to say careful, because I think that when you say careful what happens is, is that we have so many people that do believe in being so, quote, unquote, careful that they come across as very phony and inauthentic. And that’s not something I’m going to allow to happen.”
That’s the fine line media personalities must walk. How can they be engaging and draw in an audience without being inauthentic and getting themselves in trouble by being something they’re not?
It’s something Smith has mastered.
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