Picture this: Stephen A. Smith, with a mic, “discussing” a Black woman who is making a more meaningful impact than him.
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Translation: It’s a bruised ego waiting to emotionally dump and disrespect on cue.
“Is that gonna help your district in Texas?,” Smith recently said about how Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett “expresses herself” during a recent episode of his Sirius XM show “Straight Shooter.” “Aren’t you there to find a way to get stuff done, as opposed to just being an impediment to what…Trump wants?”
“That ain’t work,” he added. “Work is saying that’s the man in power. I know what his agenda is. I’m not exactly in a position to stop him, since the Republicans have the Senate and the House, but maybe if I’m willing to work with this man, I might get something out of it for my constituency.”
The nerve, the audacity.
This wasn’t a mistake, this was a deliberate choice. Smith has garnered a reputation for disrespecting the efforts of Black women – from former Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Michelle Obama to tennis legend Serena Williams and WNBA players. He’s more prone to defending the likes of Trump than he is to actually defending the women who are courageously standing up to the controversial president.
But Smith is not alone in his blatant media toxicity.
He’s a part of a long line of media personalities and influencers who are a part of what I’d like to call the Black Brain Rot Era – one where mindless viral media content is king and the problematic harm it produces is capital.
Consider former ex-professional athletes-turned-podcaters like Shannon Sharpe and Cam Newton as a part of this era, alongside media personalities Charlamagne tha God and Joe Budden. These men have made millions pushing content that is often dredged in misogyny, disinformation, and/or veiled bigotry against LGBTQIA people and others. What some might consider “discourse,” can arguably be just another way of platforming contempt for the most marginalized amongst us.
Who finds it entertaining to hear Newton ask producer Hitmaka, who’s been previously accused of pistol-whipping his ex-girlfriend, to name the women celebrities he’s slept with on his podcast Funky Friday?
Does anyone find it intellectually stimulating to witness Budden, who had previously apologized for sexually harassing a former co-host, attempt to be the “Howard Stern” of hip-hop?
Or hear Charlamagne tha God or any of his co-hosts on “The Breakfast Club” find some bizarre and exhausting reason to discuss transgender people or LGBTQ issues in a tasteless way?
At a time when books are being banned, reading couldn’t be more fundamental than it has ever been – and perhaps these guys need to read more and talk less. As human rights are being stripped in our nation left and right, Black people do deserve an outlet to express themselves and escape.
But this ain’t it – and continuing to amplify the platforms and messages of such media “voices” aren’t helping us get any closer to freedom, but further entrapment.
Straight From 
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