On his podcast “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.,” Smith said Harris’s remarks had him on “the verge” of “blowing a gasket.”
Stephen A. Smith called out Kamala Harris following the former U.S. vice president’s remarks at the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s funeral service last week.
The always outspoken newscaster turned political commentator expressed outrage after Harris joked about predicting many of President Donald Trump‘s controversial actions since returning to office in January 2025.
“I predicted a lot about what’s happening right now,” Harris said to applause from the thousands in attendance at House of Hope Baptist Church in Chicago. The 2024 Democratic presidential nominee continued, “I’m not into saying I told you so, but we did see it coming. But what I did not predict is that we would not have Jesse Jackson with us right now to help us get through this.”
On his podcast “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.,” Smith said Harris’s remarks had him on “the verge” of “blowing a gasket,” adding, “If I see that lady figuratively speaking in our face one more time talking about she told us so…it’s pissing me off because it’s implying that we didn’t support her.”
The ESPN host noted that nearly 75 million voters cast their ballot for Harris, who ran a historically short 107-day campaign for president after then-President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for re-election against Trump.
“You had a billion and a half dollars to spend. We supported you. Why are you sitting at a memorial service in a church with nothing but of Black people around you, talking to us about you told us so like we didn’t support you? I voted for her. Most Black folks voted for her,” said Smith, who said Harris was “handed” the nomination and that had there been a primary, America’s first Black female vice president and presidential nominee wouldn’t have won and subsequently ended up on the ballot.
“She wouldn’t have had the opportunity,” said Smith.
The 58-year-old media personality also criticized the former vice president for not being as candid and forthright on the campaign trail. He called out her infamous interview on “The View” where she struggled to name a distinction between her and Biden, who had grown unpopular with voters due to the state of the economy and the U.S.’s backing of Israel’s deadly military operation in Palestine.
“We told you to be aggressive, to stop being so damn loyal to Joe Biden, to make sure that you assuaged his concerns, and, as a result, you were conducting yourself in a fashion that was non-offensive to him more so than prioritizing getting as many votes as you possibly could to win the presidency,” Smith argued. “We were telling you to remind people of your record. You were an attorney general. You were a senator. You were the reigning vice president of the United States. You had the credential. What were you being passive for? You didn’t want to be disloyal. You didn’t want to come across as being disloyal.”
Critiquing her decision to share her true thoughts about Biden in her book “107 Days,” he said, “It’s not fair to us who supported you. It’s not. And then we find out how candid and in your face and unapologetic you could be when it’s time to sell your book, but not when you’re running for the presidency. Come on now.”
He added, “Black folks still supported you. Why you keep standing in our face talking about you told us so? Like somehow someway we went against you, and we didn’t believe you, and we didn’t support you. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. In some cases against our better judgment, we still supported you.”
Despite Smith’s fervent critique of Harris, it’s worth noting that Harris said to the audience, “We did see it coming,” suggesting she and Black voters–83% of whom voted for her in 2024–predicted what would happen in a second Trump presidency.
This isn’t the first time that Smith has used his platform to call out Harris. When she released her now New York Times best-selling memoir, Smith said, “There’s nothing to elaborate about. Who cares what she has to say at this particular moment in time? I hope the book is successful.”
