Stephen A. Smith has a national television show on ESPN, a SiriusXM radio show, and more than a million subscribers on YouTube. Yet he took his complaints about the National Association of Black Journalists to Fox News.
The self-proclaimed “straight shooter” fired back Monday night at NABJ for naming him one of five recipients of its “Thumbs Down” Award.
The back-and-forth between the sports broadcasting powerhouse and the journalism organization began Aug. 15 in Atlanta with NABJ’s Salute to Excellence Awards on the final night of its 2026 Convention & Career Fair.
Full disclosure: I’m an NABJ member and attended the convention, although I did not go to the awards ceremony.
Still, word quickly spread that NABJ had selected Smith, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, CBS, The Washington Post, and media executive DuJuan McCoy as the recipients of its dubious honor.
Related: Black Journalists Give Stephen A. Smith and FCC Chair ‘Thumbs Down’
The organization cited “conduct that harms Black journalists, weakens newsroom equity, reinforces damaging portrayals of Black people” among the criteria for the award.
Smith was particularly incensed by NABJ’s accusation that he “has established a recurring public pattern of disparaging commentary directed at prominent Black women across politics, sports, and media.”
Whether NABJ’s criticism was fair is open to debate. But it is telling that Smith has been the most vocal of the recipients. He immediately went scorched earth, first writing on X over the weekend that he would be “coming” for the group.
Then, on Monday afternoon, he told his YouTube subscribers the award was “bulls—t.” Smith acknowledged he is “far from perfect,” but said NABJ had gone too far.
By Monday night, he appeared to be seething and told Fox’s Sean Hannity he’d had enough of the organization.
“I think it’s utterly ridiculous,” Smith said about the Thumbs Down dishonor. “I was raised by five Black women. My mother, God rest her soul, and my four older sisters.”
The First Take host said he had shown the organization more support than other national television figures by attending the previous two NABJ conventions in Cleveland and Chicago, and even hosting his ESPN show from the gatherings.
“When have you seen a nationally televised show broadcasting live from a journalism convention? I did it the last two years,” he said.
Smith noted that he did not attend the 2026 gathering. From the sound of things, he won’t be going next year, either.
“I find it highly offensive that they would label me in this way — give me a Thumbs Down Award specifically for disparaging Black women. I want everybody out there to know there’s no such thing,” he told Hannity. “That is a flat-out lie, and that never happened.”
“Whether it was Jasmine Crockett, whether it was Kamala Harris, whether it was Michelle Obama, I pointed to something that they said that I may have disagreed with,” he continued. “That is all that I have done.”
Hannity defended Smith’s criticism of Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett and journalist Joy Reid, insisting the two women say “nutty things.”
Smith breezed past Hannity’s comments, and instead addressed his own previous remarks about former first lady Michelle Obama.
The sports commentator said he criticized Obama over statements she made about supporters of President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election, when Trump ran against then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the Democratic nominee.
“I said that I did not appreciate [Obama] saying that a vote for Donald Trump was a vote against women because I said there are a plethora of reasons why people go to a poll,” Smith told Hannity.
“[For Obama] to sit up there and to say to African-American men that a vote for Donald Trump would be a vote against women, I said I don’t think that’s fair,” he continued. “My point is, whether you agree or disagree, how does the word ‘disparaging’ come into play, or to talk about me degrading and denigrating Black women? No! I had a difference of opinion about something they may have said.”
Smith added that NABJ should focus on “uplifting African Americans within the journalism industry” instead of handing out insulting awards.
My take: Smith has every right to defend himself and criticize NABJ. But with a massive audience on ESPN, satellite radio and YouTube, why take his grievances to Fox News?
You can watch the NABJ awards here. The group announced its “Thumbs Down” winners at the 2:11:50 mark.
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