LISTEN: Stephen A. Smith Has Some Things to Say About the Brett Kavanaugh Situation

Toward the end of hour one of his eponymous radio show Monday, Stephen A. Smith teased some strong thoughts on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. A hearing has been set for next Monday in which both Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of a decades-old sexual assault will testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Smith offered only a glimpse of what he might say if he were a political pundit, but a savvy listener can glean what angle he would take.

“Ladies and gentleman, you all have no idea how lucky you are, how lucky this nation is that I’m working for ESPN, which is a sports network and I’m not working for a political network,” Smith said. “Because this stuff about the Supreme Court nominee and all of the sudden you’ve found somebody from high school, okay, that said he did something wrong. The things that I would say, oooooh. But, I’m going to relieve my producers.”

He then listed the producers whose fear he was apparently alleviating.

“I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to say anything. But, my God, are you all lucky I’m not a political pundit. Ohh. Ohh, would I be going off about it. High school. Supreme Court justice nominee and they talk about something that might, might, might have happened in high school. Lord have mercy on this country.”

ESPN, long under a magnifying glass for its relationship with the political world, has renewed footing on the issue under new president Jimmy Pitaro.

“I will tell you I have been very, very clear with employees here that it is not our jobs to cover politics, purely,” Pitaro said last month.