Stephen A. Smith has responded to the growing backlash that he’s received for saying that the Minnesota ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good was “completely justified.”
Smith brought up his comments on his self-titled show — or rather, he brought up the media’s reporting of his comments. He suggested that he's been receiving pushback because a New York Post headline ["Stephen A. Smith calls Minnesota ICE shooting ‘completely justified’ from a ‘lawful perspective’"] only focused on one piece of what he said.
“The headline was misleading, because even though I said what was said on the headline, that wasn’t all of what I said.”
Smith then suggested that the right wing wants to “paint a picture” that he agrees with their ideals. “I don’t agree with them.”
“I’m talking about legality when I’m talking about justification, nothing else,” Smith continued. “Everything else about it is wrong. Morally and ethically wrong... You're trying to paint a different picture, and I don’t appreciate that.”
“Thank God I got my own platforms to address bullshit like this," he concluded.
Smith's initial comments about the shooting came on an episode of his show in which he suggested the shooting was “completely justified” from a legal perspective, but the agent had other options to deal with the situation.
“I saw the video on numerous occasions and seeing what transpired from a lawful perspective as it pertains to a law enforcement official, don’t expect him to be prosecuted. He was completely justified,” Smith said.
“From a humanitarian perspective, however, why did you have to do that? If you could move out the way, that means you could have shot the tires,” Smith continued. “That means you could have got a few feet away after you shot the tires. And if you were unsuccessful in doing that, you could have got her down the road. You didn’t have to do that.”
According to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Good was ordered by ICE agents to exit her vehicle and “attempted to run them over and ram them,” which ultimately led to her being shot.
In her statement, Noem said of Good’s actions, “It was an act of domestic terrorism.”
However, video of the confrontation shows Good turning the car away from the agent, not towards him. As far as Smith's thoughts on the shooting's legality, federal authorities have been stifling efforts to investigate.
