Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith tore into President Trump for appearing to smile at a “disgusting” insult launched at former first lady Michelle Obama on the White House South Lawn.
At the Freedom 250 UFC, fighter Josh Hokitt, in his post-victory interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, renewed a baseless and offensive right-wing conspiracy theory.
After shouting out his “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Hokit said, “And lastly, Michelle Obama is a man! Am I right, America?”
CNN reported that Trump, seated in the front row during the fighting, “appeared to show a half-smile” just after Hokit’s outrageous remark.
While Smith called the UFC fight night “a spectacular event,” he said, “It was ruined by one a-----e who was fighting in the Octagon who said that Michelle Obama was a man.”
“That was an incredibly disparaging remark about one of the greatest first ladies, if not the greatest first lady we have seen. It was a disgusting thing to say,” he said on his show Straight Shooter. “It was inexcusable.”
“When he said it, Trump smiled. It was denounced, thank God, by Dana White, the president and CEO of the UFC,” he added.
Smith then argued that the tolerance of such offensive comments is what gets Trump and other right-wing personalities accused of being racist.
“This is some disgusting stuff, and this is associated with the right, when stuff like this happens. And that’s not to say that the left doesn’t engage in its own incendiary rhetoric and stuff like that. That’s not how I roll,” he noted.
“But this should have immediately been denounced by the president. But he doesn’t do that enough. And that’s the problem,” he continued.
The White House communications team has refused to denounce the offensive comments about the former first lady.
Smith also pointed to an outrageous video that Trump shared on his Truth Social platform earlier this year, which depicted the Obamas as apes, a racist trope.
“They should have escorted his a-- out of there and the president should have said there’s no excuse for that,” he said. “And the president should have followed up with his own statement as opposed to leaving it to Dana White. It was on the White House grounds. It was on the South Lawn.”
“But this is the same president who liked the photo of the Obamas depicted as apes months ago,” he continued. “And then you wonder why people associate the word ‘racist’ with him. I’m not calling him that. I’m saying when you allow s--t like that to happen, that’s what ultimately stains you.”
Trump later tried to blame the post on a rogue staffer, saying he didn’t see it before it was posted. The White House deleted the post, but said that the unnamed staffer had not been disciplined.
“It’s stuff like this that people remember and hold onto, which diverts them away from focusing on his policies and whether they work or not, because they’re so disgusted by the vile behavior he either initiates, emboldens, or co-signs,” Smith concluded.
Smith and Trump have been engaged in a weekslong tiff that began when Trump announced he would attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
Smith said that if the New York Knicks lost that game against the San Antonio Spurs, which they did, that he was “blaming the president of the United States of America if the New York Knicks,” and said Trump was “engaging in a level of narcissism that really rakes my freakin’ nerves.”
In response to that, Trump said he called Smith “a nice guy,” then used an insult which he typically reserves for only Black people he dislikes, saying, “you need a certain aptitude to run for president. You need a high IQ, I don’t really think Stephen A. Smith has that.” Trump himself had previously said Smith would make a good presidential nominee.
After the Knicks’ brutal Game 3 loss, Smith spent nearly 10 minutes on ESPN’s First Take, laying into the president for attending.
“Our president showed up to New York City last night. And needless to say, what I feared would happen ended up happening,” he said to the backdrop of patriotic music. “The New York Knicks lost, and obviously I’m blaming him.”
“Why am I blaming him, ladies and gentlemen? It’s very, very simple, because the president disrupted our mojo. I’ve said this on many occasions over the last 24 hours and I’m saying it again,” he added. “The man messed things up.”
The Knicks went on to win the next two games of the series and became NBA champions for the first time in over 50 years.
