Donald Trump’s sometime favorite sportscaster has called him out over his “disgusting” comments about NBA megastar LeBron James.
Stephen A. Smith’s defense of the basketball legend comes despite long-running acrimony between them after the commentator criticized James’ NBA-playing son Bronny.
In the wake of the president’s bizarre allegation that James may be a “racist,” Smith buried the hatchet, stepping in to defend the newly signed Philadelphia 76ers star, 41.
“Our president is trifling,” Smith said on his YouTube show on Monday. “When you’re calling LeBron James a racist, you know what? You know, it’s really getting ridiculous.
“The divisiveness, the way that this man acts, the things that he says, it’s really, really disgusting. And it needs to be said. I held it in long enough.
“I was waiting a few days, but then obviously being back to work today, and listening to this nonsense, it’s just really, really disgusting.”
Trump was in the White House on Friday when he was asked by Fox News whether he thought four-time NBA champion LeBron was the best player of all time.
“Michael Jordan is a guy that’s a friend of mine. I play golf with him,” Trump began. “He’s a really good guy. I think LeBron is—maybe he’s a racist, but maybe he doesn’t like Trump. I don’t know. I only like people that like me, so I would say Michael Jordan all the way.”
The four-time MVP is about to kickstart his 24th season in the world’s top basketball league, after a glittering career that has seen him light up Los Angeles, Miami, and Cleveland and scoop up three Olympic gold medals.
“We gotta call stuff out,” said ESPN First Take host Smith, who has in the past flirted with a presidential run as a Democrat—with Trump’s blessing. “We gotta call it out for what we see. We gotta call it out for what it is. Because the only way that the world is going to become a better place is when we call out trifling tendencies.
“Even if it’s from our president, even if it’s from our commander-in-chief. And this is the latest salvo that he’s thrown in somebody’s direction, ultimately to distract from the job that he’s doing. And we’ve got to call him out on it. We just have to.”
In his defense of James, Smith even acknowledged, “The LeBron James that I’m talking about—who, by the way, I don’t have the greatest relationship with at all, so nobody’s here trying to support him because I’m anxious to support him..."
Smith has been a constant critic of James over the years, even saying to Graham Bensinger in February, “We don’t like each other. The world needs to know that.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House over Smith’s comments.
