Stephen A. Smith has angrily responded to critics, stating that his comments on the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good were taken out of context. He used a segment on his political talk show, Straight Shooter, to clarify his position: while he considers the shooting “legally justified” based on law enforcement protocols, he finds the act “morally and humanly” indefensible.
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The ESPN commentator had initially caused controversy on Friday (Jan 9) by suggesting that Good “provoked the situation” leading to her death. Drawing on his experience as a Black man, Smith reiterated the importance of obeying law enforcement officers’ demands. “In the moment when you are dealing with law enforcement officials, you obey their orders so you can get home safely,” Smith asserted. “Renee Good did not do that.”
However, attempting to walk a fine line between legal commentary and social accountability, Smith emphasized that his legal analysis was not a moral endorsement of the officer’s actions. “I did not say he was justified, as in morally. As in ethically. As in his own humanity, because that woman should still be alive,” Smith clarified. He questioned the officer’s conduct, adding, “A mother-of-three, 37 years of age. How could you do that? She wasn’t pointing a gun at you. Why would you do that?”
In his attempt to balance on a slippery slope, Smith agrees that the ICE agent was justified in firing his weapon, but at the same time, he says Good should still be alive.
He again pointed out that Good was wrong for placing herself in that precarious position.
“On one hand, she had no business being in that position,” Smith argued. “She had no business driving off, and as a result, from a legal perspective, he is going to be justified.’But that doesn’t make him morally, legally, or humanly right. Because he is not. What is the problem?’:
Smith also suggested that he was receiving pushback due to a New York Post headline [“Stephen A. Smith calls Minnesota ICE shooting ‘completely justified’ from a ‘lawful perspective’”] that only focused on one aspect of his statement
“The headline was misleading, because even though I said what was said on the headline, that wasn’t all of what I said.”
Smith also accused right-wing conservatives of attempting to “paint a picture” that he’s aligned with their ideology. “
“I don’t agree with them,” Smith emphatically said.” I’m talking about legality when I’m talking about justification, nothing else. “Everything else about it is wrong and ethically humane. They’re trying to paint a different picture, and I don’t appreciate that.”
“Thank God I got my own platforms to address b*llshit like this,” he added.
Smith addressed those calling for his termination, including Keith Olbermann, a former ESPN broadcaster and current host of “The Countdown.”
“Literally trying to get me fired,” Smith said. “It’s time for ESPN to fire Stephen A. — he’s hurting the brand. He’s damaging the brand. Coming from you?”
Smith accused Olbermann of “napalming bridges” throughout his time at ESPN and throughout his career. Also, Olbermann’s comments come from personal resentment.
“Who looks more like a cartoon character than you? Keith Olbermann, you can’t run five feet with your fat self,” Smith explained.
“I’m sick of your pathetic a**,” Smith continued. “I really, really am. “You’re a 66-year-old [man] with barely any friends. Who the hell knows what’s going on in your life?”
Smith’s clap black stems from his initial commentary about Good’s death at the hands of ICE agents.
On his Wednesday episode of “Straight Shooter,” he described Good’s death as “completely unnecessary.” But he added that the agent “from a lawful perspective” was “completely justified” in firing the fatal shots at her.
“I saw the video on numerous occasions, and seeing what transpired from a lawful perspective, as it pertains to a law enforcement official, don’t expect him to be prosecuted,” Smith argued on Wednesday (Jan.7). “He was completely justified.”
“She wasn’t driving down the road, coming at you 90 miles an hour; she was parked in the middle of the street. Rather than get out of he car, she wrongfully tried to drive off,” Smith continued. “And wrongfully disregarded a law enforcement official because it was ICE is and as a result, lost her life because of it.”
Smith’s remarks were quite similar to those of Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said Good engaged in an “act of domestic terrorism” by attacking officers and attempting to run them over with her vehicle.
As additional videos have surfaced from the incident and seem to contradict Smith’s commentary, Noem’s statement, and the Trump Administration’s stance. A 47-second video, reportedly filmed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on his own cellphone while holding his weapon, shows him circling Good’s vehicle. It also captures the tense verbal exchange with Good, and when she drove forward before shots were fired.
Elsewhere in the episode, Smith did question why ICE agents fired their weapons at Good, who was unarmed and not at her vehicle.
“From a humanitarian perspective, however, why did you have to do that? If you could move out of he way, that means you could have shot the tires,” Smith said. “That means you could have gotten a few feet away after you shot the tires. And if you were unsuccessful in doing that, you could have ggottenher down the road.”
Following his commentary on the tragic incident, Black Twitter could not wait to get at Smith for seemingly making it his business to be on the wrong side of almost every issue.
One user said that Smith uses his sports gig for cover while he makes “horrendous” statements.
“Stephen a smith very loudly, very brazenly said yesterday that the ICE agent who murdered an unarmed woman in Minneapolis was ‘justified’ in his actions,” the user wrote.”And then gets to go back to his sports job like he didn’t just say an insanely horrendous thing. Very grotesque times.”
Another user accused him of sounding like Jason Whitlock, a Black sports writer turned conservative commentator.
“Dear Stephen A Smith, you sound a lot like Jason Whitlock,” the user wrote.
Because of his views on Good’s killing, one user is over Smith and his sports commentary.
“Stephen A. Smith justifying ICE killing that woman,” the user said. “F**k his sports takes.”
Another user compared Smith to Samuel L. Jackson’s character Stephen in Django Unchained.
@stephenasmith really just said that the ice agent was justified in murdering that woman,” the post read. “Congrats, Stephen A Smith, on becoming this…”
One user was completely stunned at Smith’s perspective on the situation.
“WAIT! Stephen A Smith is saying that the ICE SHOOTER that happened in Minneapolis was “COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED.’ “WTH.”
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