Stephan A. Smith hits back after Michelle Obama likes ESPN to ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’

During a recent episode of the “IMO” podcast that she cohosts with her brother, former First Lady Michelle Obama derisively compared sports coverage to reality television.

Mrs. Obama’s comments raised the ire of longtime ESPN host Stephen Smith, who accused her of committing “emotional blackmail.” 

Mrs. Obama likens ESPN to the “Real Housewives of Atlanta”

“It’s all a sociological study,” Breitbart quoted Mrs. Obama as saying. “They think that sports is better reality TV, I’m like, ‘It’s the same thing.’ If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it’s like watching the ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta,’ you know?”

“It’s the same drama, and they’re yelling at each other, and they don’t get along, you know?” she continued. “I mean, Stephen A. Smith, he’s just like every other. . . .”

“So, that’s why I’m like, ‘What’s the difference?’ It’s just, you know, it’s just sociological drama,” the former first lady declared.

“I mean, the fact that people over seasons of working still can’t get along. They still have the same arguments, you know, and it’s not just women. But this happens in sports, too. I find it fascinating,” she added.

Smith “took major offense” to Mrs. Obama’s campaign rhetoric

Breitbart noted that those words did go over well with Smith, who quickly fired back on an episode of his “Straight Shooter” podcast.

Specifically, the longtime ESPN commentator harkened back to some of Mrs. Obama’s rhetoric during last year’s presidential campaign.

🚨NEW: Stephen A. Smith BLASTS Obamas for trying to emotionally “blackmail” voters into voting for Kamala Harris and against Trump by claiming sexism🚨

“I respectfully disagreed and still remain pretty salty about what you said about us.”

“And I feel even more adamant about… pic.twitter.com/zAwYnD6duf

— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) August 2, 2025

“When you were campaigning on behalf of the former Vice President Kamala Harris … you said a vote for [President Donald] Trump was a vote against you and a vote against y’all as women. I want to say for the record – I took major offense to that,” Smith began.

“I think to this day, it is the only thing that I didn’t like that you said, I didn’t appreciate it. Because there’s so many things that go into deciding where your vote is going to go. For some people, it’s all about the economy. For others, it’s all about national security,” he pointed out.

Smith also pointed former President Obama

“For some people, it is immigration. For some people, it’s safety in the streets of America. Long before they think about pro-choice or pro-life,” Smith pointed out.

“I respectfully disagreed and still remain pretty salty about what you said about us. And I feel even more adamant about what your husband Barack Obama said when he talked to those men in Pittsburgh and implied that to not vote for Kamala is because we’re engaging in some sort of misogyny,” he complained.

“There are issues that matter to every American citizen. Because that side of the aisle was able to look at the left and say, ‘Look at what they’ll do to win.’ That didn’t make y’all clean. It really, really didn’t,” the television personality insisted.

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