According to Breitbart, Lemon used his platform to denounce Smith over comments the ESPN personality made about the ICE agent who shot and killed anti-ICE protester Renee Good. Lemon claimed Smith had effectively called the shooting “justified” as part of a cynical effort to appeal to a white audience and secure financial gain.
“I try not to criticize, especially Black men, or just Black people in general, you know, because we get so much sh*t. The rules are different for us,” Lemon began, before immediately turning his fire on Smith. “But Stephen A. Smith goes off and talks about sh*t that he has no idea about.”
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Lemon went on to portray Smith as a willing tool of the right, appearing on platforms he derisively labeled as “White boy, right-wing podcasts.” “He just gets on these like White boy, right-wing podcasts or his own show and just goes off about Black people and things that for which he has no clue,” Lemon continued, framing Smith’s commentary as a betrayal of black Americans.
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The ex-CNN host then sharpened his accusation, insisting that Smith’s motives were purely financial and rooted in racial pandering. “It’s just shocking to me, this sort of cozying up to White people. And it’s gotta be for the money,” he added, suggesting that any black figure who challenges progressive orthodoxy must be doing so for a paycheck.
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Lemon even fantasized about his own potential earnings if he abandoned his left-wing posture and embraced conservative views. “If I became a Black conservative, I would be richhhhh!” Lemon exclaimed. “Like a gazillionaire.”
Smith, one of ESPN’s highest-paid personalities, does indeed command an eight-figure salary, though it is overwhelmingly tied to his sports commentary rather than his occasional forays into politics. Lemon’s attack was triggered by Smith’s recent defense of the ICE agent’s actions in the Good shooting, which Smith described as “completely justified” from a legal standpoint.
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“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 explained. “He was completely justified. From a humanitarian perspective, however, why did you have to do that? If you could move out the way, that means you could have shot the tires. That means you could have got her a few feet away after you shot the tires; and if you were unsuccessful in doing that, you could have got her down the road. You didn’t have to do that. She wasn’t driving down the road, coming at you 90 miles an hour. She was parked in the middle of the street, and rather than get out the car, she wrongfully tried to drive off and wrongfully disregarded law enforcement official — which is exactly what ICE is — and as a result, lost her life because of it.”
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Lemon pressed on, alleging that Smith’s “stock and trade” had shifted from sports analysis to attacking black people, a charge that sits awkwardly with the fact pattern of the case. Both Good and the ICE officer involved are white, raising questions about why Lemon insists on framing the controversy in racial terms and why defending a law enforcement officer automatically constitutes an assault on black Americans.
Smith’s willingness to acknowledge the legal justification for the shooting, while still questioning whether less-lethal options were available, reflects a more nuanced position than Lemon’s caricature allows.
In an era when the left routinely demonizes ICE and undermines law enforcement, any prominent figure who defends officers acting within the law is bound to face backlash from progressive media figures like Lemon, for whom ideological conformity often seems more important than facts or consistency.
