Stephen A. Smith has made it clear with his podcast K[no]w Mercy that political discussions are on the table.
Smith has never shied away from talking politics especially when sports and politics intertwine, even appearing as a guest on Sean Hannity’s FOX News show.
Stephen A. considers the conservative commentator a friend. He told Bomani Jones on the HBO show Game Theory that having a relationship with someone who holds political views that are widely different than yours is a good thing.
“Our politics do not align. But I’m one of those people, I look at this country of ours that we’re living in, this is a two-party system,” Smith said. “And you got people on the fringes all over the place on the left and the right. And I don’t like a lot of things on both sides.”
“You feel the way that you feel and you go on from there,” Stephen A. added. “Because the reality of the situation is that we’ve got people in our families – we’ve got people in our circle – we’ve got people who are friends and loved ones we don’t necessarily agree with their politics. But we still get along with them because off those issues, they’re cool people to talk to.”
Smith said it’s a two-way street with Hannity in terms of talking politics.
“He knows good and damn well at least 70 percent of the time I don’t vibe with what he’s saying at all,” he said.
But Stephen A. did say there are areas in which he and Hannity do see eye to eye.
“Some of the things that are said on the right is something that the Black family can gravitate to and has gravitated to whether we’re willing to admit it or not,” he said. “I’m man enough and wise enough to recognize that. And as long as I have the kind of relationship with you where I can tell you what you’re wrong about and why, and you’re willing to listen, then I have an opportunity potentially to provoke change.”
“Why close that door of opportunity when you can leave it open,” Stephen A. added. “Because no matter where you go, you’re gonna run across people that think differently than you. And that’s just the way it goes.”
