Stephen A. Smith might not do the Trump dance himself, but he has no issue with the NFL allowing players to celebrate with the viral trend.

Earlier this week, the NFL stated it will not punish players for performing the Trump dance. And while Smith has no issue with athletes celebrating by mocking or imitating Donald Trump’s dance moves, he has a big issue with the NFL feeling the need to address the growing trend throughout sports.


“Here’s why I’m pissed off, that the NFL had to even issue a statement about it,” he ranted on The Stephen A. Smith Show. “Because celebrations usually don’t warrant that. It doesn’t require a response from the league. 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.”

Smith reiterated that he didn’t vote for Trump because he doesn’t consider the president-elect presidential enough to hold the position. Smith, however, recognizes that Trump won the election decisively, saying the American people have spoken.

“I got news for you,” Smith said. “Football players are usually American people. So are basketball players. So are UFC fighters, they got a right to support who the hell they want without the league needing to send in a response. I didn’t see a response from the UFC, you know why? Because Dana White wouldn’t entertain that.”

“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.”

The NFL revealing they won’t punish players for taking part in the ‘Trump dance’ trend probably isn’t as serious as Smith is making it out to be. Earlier this month, the NFL fined San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa for interrupting a nationally televised interview while wearing a Make America Great Again hat. That fine was handed to Bosa because the NFL rulebook prohibits players who are visible to the stadium or TV audience on game day from “wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the league office.”

While the rulebook mandates that Bosa should have been fined for wearing his MAGA hat, it did prompt the question of whether players similarly deserve to be punished for the ‘Trump dance.’ The NFL says the answer is no. But the fact that the question was asked and answered isn’t quite the detriment to society that Smith believes it is.

[The Stephen A. Smith Show]