Stephen A. Smith is annoyed with the NFL.
The ESPN personality and sports talk host ranted on the latest edition of his eponymous podcast over the league’s decision to comment on its players doing a Donald Trump-inspired dance last weekend.
The dance, which has become a craze across the sports world, made headlines over the last week, and the NFL released a statement earlier in the week that it would not be handing out punishments over the moves.
Smith had no issue with the players doing the dance, but his issues stemmed from the fact the league even had to address the issue.
“Celebrations usually don’t warrant that. It doesn’t require a response from the league,” Smith said. “So why was it necessary this time? You know why? Because we got a bunch of people still living with their heads in the cloud acting like they get to protest every little damn thing. This is America. Donald Trump won the election, rather convincingly, I might add.”
Among the players who did the Trump dance during Week 11’s slate of games were Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith.
The week before, 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa did it as he celebrated a sack on Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.
“And why am I ticked off?” Smith continued. “Because it was emblematic of the climate that we’ve been living in for years now, which is why I believe Donald Trump was really elected… woke culture, cancel culture, oh hell yes, that played a role. When you got people walking around wondering whether or not they’re echoing the right pronoun.
“Wondering whether or not that was gonna cost them their job or being PC because God forbid your opinion is different than the average folk walking around in America. Lord knows what would happen to you. That’s what America regressed to.”
UFC fighter Jon Jones busted out the Trump moves after he won at UFC 309, and American soccer star Christian Pulisic also did it during the United State’s game against Jamaica this week.
Trump has seemingly enjoyed the extra attention, writing on Truth Social this week: “TRUMP DANCE SWEEPS THE NATION,” with a video of players doing the moves.