Sports broadcaster and commentator Stephen A. Smith sharply criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris following remarks she delivered at the funeral service for civil rights leader Jesse Jackson last week in Chicago.
Speaking on his podcast, Straight Shooter with Stephen A., Smith said Harris’s comments left him on the “verge” of “blowing a gasket.” His frustration centered on a moment during the memorial service where Harris suggested she had predicted many of the controversial actions taken by Donald Trump since returning to the presidency in January 2025.
Addressing the congregation at Chicago’s House of Hope Baptist Church, Harris told the audience she had foreseen much of what is happening in the country today. “I predicted a lot about what’s happening right now,” she said to applause from attendees. While adding that she was not interested in saying “I told you so,” Harris remarked that the moment was particularly difficult because Jackson was not present to help guide the nation through it.
Smith took issue with the tone of the comments, arguing that they appeared to suggest supporters had failed to heed Harris’s warnings during the 2024 election.
“If I see that lady figuratively speaking in our face one more time talking about she told us so, it’s pissing me off,” Smith said on the podcast. He argued that the remark implied voters, particularly Black voters, had not supported her candidacy.
Smith noted that nearly 75 million Americans cast ballots for Harris during the 2024 race, despite the unusually short campaign she ran after Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential contest. Harris launched a 107-day campaign against Trump after Biden exited the race.
According to Smith, Harris also failed to campaign as aggressively as she could have, in part because she avoided publicly distancing herself from Biden during the race.
“We told you to be aggressive,” Smith said, arguing that Harris should have highlighted her record as a former attorney general, U.S. senator, and vice president. Instead, he said, she appeared overly cautious about appearing disloyal to Biden.
Smith also criticized Harris for sharing more candid reflections about the campaign in her book 107 Days than she did while running for president, saying supporters deserved that level of candor during the election itself.
