Jemele Hill

Vance, the vice president, and Donald Trump, and all of a sudden Stephen A. Smith is like... come on my show and tell me, explain yourself. And I was like, yes, Stephen A., more debate duels. Let's go full wrestling. That was the part that I found to be highly, highly entertaining. It's like, yes, forget about how we used to have celebrity boxing.

Let's just have debate duel-offs all the time for the soul of humanity. Let's do this. I'm in.

Let's just have debate duel-offs all the time for the soul of humanity. Let's do this. I'm in.

Was that funny, Roy, or was that sad? Because I found that to be sad.

Was that funny, Roy, or was that sad? Because I found that to be sad.

Well, I was more, I guess, of all the characters. Like, whenever these debates ensue, right, you have the usual cast of characters that you expect to be involved in some of these debates. RG3 was not one that I had on the bingo card. Then him just coming out of nowhere being like, oh, I long and pine for the days when all the sports talk was just about sports and never about politics.

Well, I was more, I guess, of all the characters. Like, whenever these debates ensue, right, you have the usual cast of characters that you expect to be involved in some of these debates. RG3 was not one that I had on the bingo card. Then him just coming out of nowhere being like, oh, I long and pine for the days when all the sports talk was just about sports and never about politics.

And it was like, what? Where did that come from? So it was more the presence and the oddity of his presence in this debate that I found to be kind of strange, if you will.

And it was like, what? Where did that come from? So it was more the presence and the oddity of his presence in this debate that I found to be kind of strange, if you will.

Well, see, if that would have happened, I would have been like, okay, this tracks. This is our brand, right? But you don't expect RG3 to come out of somewhere with a,

Well, see, if that would have happened, I would have been like, okay, this tracks. This is our brand, right? But you don't expect RG3 to come out of somewhere with a,

what he considered to be in his mind, and maybe this is sort of the dispiriting part, is that in his mind, you could tell when he allowed, you know, when he let off his opinions, that he actually thought he was given some kind of nuanced intellectual take that was somehow missed in all these years in which we have dissected, embraced, celebrated Jackie Robinson's legacy.

what he considered to be in his mind, and maybe this is sort of the dispiriting part, is that in his mind, you could tell when he allowed, you know, when he let off his opinions, that he actually thought he was given some kind of nuanced intellectual take that was somehow missed in all these years in which we have dissected, embraced, celebrated Jackie Robinson's legacy.

Here comes RG3 with something we've never thought about before or something that is so unique to this discussion that he needed to tell the world that, no, no, Jackie Robinson wasn't in Major League Baseball. It had nothing to do with politics, nothing at all.

Here comes RG3 with something we've never thought about before or something that is so unique to this discussion that he needed to tell the world that, no, no, Jackie Robinson wasn't in Major League Baseball. It had nothing to do with politics, nothing at all.

It had everything to do with the fact that he was just there as just a great player, and that's it, and just completely just whitewashing the entire context of why this was so meaningful in American politics and American life, period.

It had everything to do with the fact that he was just there as just a great player, and that's it, and just completely just whitewashing the entire context of why this was so meaningful in American politics and American life, period.

Well, yeah, I mean, and I don't mean to make it sound as if Stephen A is at home, you know, sort of figuring out what should my character say today? Like, I don't I don't want to insult him by, you know, sort of I'm just sort of politely making, you know, making fun of the whole, you know, kind of theater of it, because Stephen A does understand the performance element of television.

Well, yeah, I mean, and I don't mean to make it sound as if Stephen A is at home, you know, sort of figuring out what should my character say today? Like, I don't I don't want to insult him by, you know, sort of I'm just sort of politely making, you know, making fun of the whole, you know, kind of theater of it, because Stephen A does understand the performance element of television.

And because he understands that performance element and because he does it so well in a way that is very unique to him and in a way no one else in the industry can actually do it, that it is able to evoke reaction. You know, we live in an attention economy, Dan, as you know, and he's able to create a tornado of attention with everything that he says. And for a media company,