Stephen A. Smith denies right-wing leaning, claims Democrats are 'scared' to come on his show – Awful Announcing

Awful Announcing
For the past several years, as Stephen A. Smith has developed a voice in political media and flirted with a run for office, many have noted a rightward shift in the themes of his coverage and in his slate of guests.
Smith is insistently centrist, staging debates, criticizing both parties, and welcoming guests from across the political spectrum. Political figures such as Trump administration border czar Tom Homan and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green eagerly appeared on Smith’s new weekly SiriusXM political talk show, joining a guest list that also includes Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and numerous right-wing media stars. This trend, along with Smith’s cozy relationship with some of Fox News’ top stars and their talking points, has led many to question Smith’s previous claims of voting Democrat. It hasn’t helped Smith that Republicans are often the most exuberant about the possibility of his running for president.
The concern over Smith’s political views resurfaced recently when the National Association of Black Journalists gave Smith a “Thumbs Down” note for his frequent criticisms of Black women in politics and media. Smith called the label “grossly unfair” and accused the group of coming after him with a “smear job.”
But it wasn’t until this week on The Culture Table, which Smith produces and co-hosts with three women, that he fully revealed what he sees as the root of the animus toward him from the Democrats and liberal media.
While re-emphasizing that his job as a journalist (and “a registered Independent”) is to call balls and strikes, Smith accused the left of being “scared” to engage with him and refusing to embrace him.
“I think the Democrats hear my footsteps. I think they know that they have a legitimate fear that I can affect the election potentially,” he said. “In my opinion, they take paths of [less] resistance.”

Smith’s alignment with right-wing media online and at Fox News reached new levels after the 2024 presidential election, when he was sharply critical toward the Democrats and claimed he regretted his vote for Kamala Harris. But to Smith, this narrative snowballed because Fox News is more eager to platform takes he gives that are favorable to the GOP, while more liberal and centrist outlets refuse to give him oxygen.
“I utter a syllable that’s favorable to the right, Fox News runs with it. I spew paragraphs and dissertations about favoring the left, CNN and MSNBC don’t touch it. They want to promote who they want to promote,” Smith said. “That’s the game that they play.”
Within his own commentary, Smith said he tries to stay balanced. The longtime First Take host said that since launching his weekly political radio show in September 2025, he has had 60 guests, evenly split between liberals and conservatives. Many of the figures whom the NABJ hammered Smith for criticizing, he said, have refused to appear on the show.
Yet, Smith recently revealed he spoke with Harris after her 2024 loss. And this week on The Culture Table, Smith recounted another conversation from earlier in that campaign with former President Barack Obama.
“There’s this habit [where] folks like to talk to me privately. But then when I ask them to come on camera and to have a fruitful discussion, they go elsewhere,” he said. “So it’s like, I’m taking these hits, and these are people who want to facilitate or assist in the facilitation of these narratives being disseminated … about me. But they’re the same people calling me privately, having discussions.”
The problem, Smith believes, is that he will not grant Democratic politicians the softball interviews they want. Smith even called out All the Smoke‘s recent interview with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, chiding the hosts for not asking the presidential aspirant a single question about political policy.
Smith also told a story of a former NFL player who accused him of coming across “as a righty” for not combating the GOP hard enough. Their disagreement exemplifies the difference between how Smith sees his job as a journalist compared with the way some Democratic politicians wish him to act, as a partner.
“In my trade, what I’ve studied, I can’t do that,” he said. “I can’t compromise fairness because of the favoritism, and call myself a professional, because it compromises every tenet that I stand on.”
Smith’s drive to challenge the Democrats equally, if not more than, the GOP stems from his long-held belief that Black communities are taken for granted by the left. It seems that the continued confrontations from groups like the NABJ or the Harris campaign only reinforce his perspective.
The observations Smith puts forth about modern media and liberal ideology may be sound, but could also be applied in the inverse. While Smith sees himself as an agitator on the left, he sometimes offers a friendly environment to the right. The balance in Smith’s booking is respectable, but less so given the content of these interviews, in which Smith, one of the most renowned opinionists in media history, rarely pushes back or rebuts guests with his own perspective. Smith’s energy may come from his own experience, but on-lookers could reasonably wonder whether it is ultimately productive to treat all partisan perspectives as equal during one of the more fraught and troubled times in recent American history.
Brendon is an Editorial Lead at Awful Announcing overseeing digital content and special projects. He lives in Phoenix and has covered sports media for Awful Announcing since 2023.
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“And that one, if it would have hit me in the back of the head or Corso on the back of the head, that would have been national news.”
“I don’t want to be the one that always has to speak up, but somebody has to f*cking do it.”
“People have convinced themselves that Indiana can’t go back-to-back.”
“This change will occur as soon as next year with the next CBA.”
John Salley says he was paid a lot of money to talk about sports he didn’t watch.
2026 will be the last year with a Week 0 as the NCAA approved a calendar change that will allow all FBS teams to start a week early.
“And that one, if it would have hit me in the back of the head or Corso on the back of the head, that would have been national news.”
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