Stephen A. Smith, the face of ESPN’s “First Take,” has reached a $100 million deal that will give him more leeway to talk about politics and do things outside the network.
While Mr. Smith will keep leading “First Take,” he will appear less on ESPN’s basketball programming, including “NBA Countdown,” sources briefed on the details of the new deal told The Athletic.
Now Mr. Smith will have more time to dabble in politics and pursue other ventures, including producing and acting; he has a recurring role on the ABC daytime soap opera “General Hospital.”
“I’ve never, ever wanted to be one-dimensional. I’ve never been that guy. … I want to produce scripted and unscripted content,” Mr. Smith told Front Office Sports just before last month’s Super Bowl.
In recent weeks, he’s talked about the state of the nation on ABC’s “The View,” Fox News’ “Hannity” and NewsNation’s “Cuomo.”
He has also talked about politics on his podcast, “The Stephen A. Smith Show.”
Speculation has risen that Mr. Smith could seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2028. In polls, he has rated more favorably than some of that party’s politicians, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.
When informed by the hosts of “The View” of this Tuesday, Mr. Smith said, “I make of it that citizens, particularly on the left, are desperate. And I mean it when I say it, I think I can beat ’em all. And I have no desire whatsoever to run for office. I am not a politician. I am not qualified.”
Mr. Smith also told host Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” this week that “even though there’s a lot of qualified Democrats all over the country … there’s no real national voice. Enter moi. They’ve come to me. … I did not ask for this, I don’t want this. … I don’t want to do this, but the fact that they’re talking about me this way, I must say I approve this message.”
When the topic came up again toward the end of his appearance on the show, Mr. Smith said, “I didn’t work this hard to get to this point to be broke and stressed with most of America hating me because they don’t like something I said or did or whatever.”
