Stephen A. Smith gets ‘Thumbs Down’ award — then the black media turns on Jason Whitlock



Stephen A. Smith isn’t happy with the National Association of Black Journalists after the group presented him with the “Thumbs Down” award.

“The reality of the situation is that you don’t have facts. You have feelings. And this is where it gets a bit deep. What a few board members decided to do, no doubt egged on by a couple of people on the board who will remain nameless, but put their names up,” Smith said in response to the award.

“You can see the names there for yourself. Figure it out, along with some others. The reality is that it was a personal hit job. That’s what it was,” he added.

In the aftermath, Jemele Hill and Don Lemon commented on his award as well — but ended up calling out BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock instead of Smith.


“I have never once called Stephen A. a sellout. I’ve never called him that, and I’ve never called him a c**n or any of these other things because I don’t actually think he is one,” Hill told Lemon.

“I don’t do that, and I don’t want to do this black litmus test anyway. And so, I mean, there are some people who do fully deserve and they also embrace the title, Jason Whitlock, but that’s OK.”

“So obviously I was like, hold on, I embrace the title of sellout and c**n? What? You know, that’s just her taking a cheap shot,” Whitlock comments.

Dre Baldwin agrees, calling it the “high school lunchroom.”

“I get disappointed when I see black people talking like this. I'm sure maybe it happens in the Asian, Latin, and white communities as well, but I see it mostly in the black community that when there’s a person who is not going along with the group, you get the bandwagon effect,” he says.

“All of us are over here and you’re over there with the quote-unquote wrong opinion,” he adds.

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High school seniors can't read. Jason Whitlock calls it ‘a funeral for the mind.’



In a viral social media video, teacher Darius Williams described breaking down in class after discovering that some of his high school seniors could not complete an exercise requiring them to fill in just four missing words.

“These kids are leaving high school and going to college, hopefully, and they couldn’t fill in four words. Four words. I literally broke down in the middle of class. This is only day two, and I have seniors who simply cannot read and seniors who cannot write,” the teacher, Darius Williams, said in a reel on Instagram.

“They can reason. They have the ability to defend their reasoning if it’s talking to their homeboy, but applying that to a written text, two paragraphs, and they couldn’t do it,” he added.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is disturbed, but not surprised.



“High school seniors could not fill in four words,” Whitlock says. “Not calculus, not philosophy, four words. A grown man wept on camera because the next generation cannot read. That is not a school story. That is a funeral for the mind.”

Whitlock points out that "enslaved black men and women once risked the whip, the auction block, and death for the ability to read.”

“Literacy was contraband. Freedom. A free mind started with a page you were not supposed to touch,” he says.

What slaves understood back then is something “this generation pretends not to know.”

“The man who controls your access to words controls your access to God, to law, to contracts, to your own name on a document,” Whitlock says.

“Now, too many black Americans treat reading like optional equipment. Something you outsource to a phone, a caption, a clip, or a machine that summarizes so you never sweat through a hard paragraph,” he says. “That is not progress. That is a people walking backward into dependence and calling it culture.”

“We used to bleed for the page. Now we scroll past it and get offended when a teacher cries about the wreckage,” he adds.

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WNBA coach quotes Michelle Obama — then tells ‘online community’ to ‘go to hell’



After Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White preached love, grace, and integrity at a press conference following DiJonai Carrington’s flagrant foul on Sophie Cunningham — she quickly reflected the opposite.

“Love will win. Grace will win. Humility will win. Kindness will win. Then the mask drops,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock comments, before playing a video of the press conference where White addressed the “online community that’s trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist.”

She accused this “community” of “trying to create a fabrication” and “distortion” of who she is and what she’s “about.”

“For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game, I didn’t see the play in real time. I went straight to a press conference,” she explained.


“I thought the play got called right. Thankfully Sophie’s okay. Was it egregious? Absolutely,” she added.

White went on to explain that she takes any suggestions that she doesn’t always have her players' backs “personally” and “ride[s] with them 10 toes down all the time.”

“The hate, the fearmongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win,” she said, before reciting an old Michelle Obama quote, “When they go low, we go high.”

“Love will win. Grace will win. Humility will win. And kindness will win. I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell,” she added.

“That was the love and grace she was talking about. That was the whole production,” Whitlock comments.

"Not a game plan, not accountability. A staged crucifixion where the coach nails herself to the wood and demands you applaud the craftsmanship,” he adds.

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WNBA can’t define a woman. Now men are declaring for the draft.



WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has announced that a league task force has been formed to discuss the topic of transgender athletes.

“I know many of you have received questions in recent weeks regarding transgender athlete participation in women’s basketball, and I expect this topic will continue to receive significant attention,” Engelbert wrote in a memo.

“Go ahead, laugh at the WNBA. The league is a joke. Cathy Englebert has formed a task force to determine what a woman is,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock comments.

“Enes Kanter and Royce White read the CBA, found the loophole, and declared for the 2027 draft. Two former NBA guys trolling a league that can’t define its own eligibility rules without a committee,” he adds, before playing videos of the men joking about the draft.


“It’s official, official, I just declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft in April. Join me in this journey,” former NBA player Kanter joked in a parody video.

Former Minnesota Republican Senate candidate Royce White also joined the bit, posting a photo of himself in a wig.

And while still wearing the wig during an interview with Alex Jones, White said, “You think Caitlin Clark’s drawing eyeballs to the women’s game? Wait till me and Enes Kanter get there. Wait until the LeBron James’ of the world show up.”

“Wait until your young high school athletes decide, you know what? Why would I want to go hang around with a bunch of other sweaty men in a hyper-competitive setting? Just go on over here to the WNBA and experience being a woman because we all should get the opportunity to experience being the other sex, because it’s just a construct anyway,” he added.

“That’s two former NBA players treating the Women’s National Basketball Association like an open mic night,” Whitlock says, adding, “And they’re funnier doing it than the league is at being serious.”

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Sophie Cunningham bleeds and DiJonai Carrington posts ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’: Why the WNBA has a villain problem



The Chicago Sky’s DiJonai Carrington was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected in a game against the Indiana Fever for hitting Sophie Cunningham in the face from behind while she was attempting a layup.

Carrington quickly jumped on Instagram Threads after her ejection and posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” — which didn’t look good for the WNBA player.

But BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock doesn’t believe she’s the only one with this attitude in the league.

“Sophie will not run the approved script after she gets her mouth bloodied. So Sophie is not sisterhood material. She is content. She is a problem to manage. She is the woman the machine is built to isolate. DiJonai Carrington is not a random villain of the week. She is a perfect instrument of this culture,” Whitlock says.


“When the trans athlete fight heated up around Sophie’s public stance, Carrington did not stay out of it, she stepped in. Then she stepped into Sophie at the rim, and when the ejection hit, she did not apologize to the woman with the blood in her mouth,” he continues.

“She posted ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’ in all caps. That is the whole ideology in two words. Hurt a woman outside the circle, then accuse her of systemic advantage, systemic racism. Sophie is the victim of the file, and the defendant in the narrative. That inversion only works if the media runs it for you,” he adds.

And run it the media does.

“Enter Jemele Hill and Cari Champion. These are not the independent columnists who happen to land in the same place. They are best friends,” Whitlock explains.

“Both of them were on the line for Carrington,” he adds.

In a post on Threads, Hill wrote, “Dijonai Carrington receiving a Flagrant 2 and an ejection was the right call, but let’s go back to the play that made Sophie Cunningham famous. SC gained a million followers overnight. She is affectionately known as an enforcer. Nobody suggested she should be brought up on assault charges despite her play being clear retaliation.”

“Meanwhile Dijonai Carrington was actually going for the ball but she’s being called racial slurs, a thug, and some suggested a suspension for multiple games. Hmm ...” she added.

And Champion wrote in a post on X, “The question is a fair ask — will @dijonai be applauded? Will she gain millions of followers and marketing opportunities?”

“One softens the foul. One questions the incentive structure while still centering Carrington as the protagonist. Same friendship, same hours, same protected player,” Whitlock comments, adding, “That is not a coincidence.”

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WNBA head coach defends transgenders, says basketball is for being your ‘authentic self’



In light of Sophie Cunningham’s support for only women playing in women’s sports — not men dressed as women — Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase used a recent press conference to defend the inclusion of men in women’s athletics.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is tired of hearing it, mocking Nakase’s case for the inclusion of men on a women’s court.

“Sports is about belonging, inclusivity, authentic self, and that includes transformers,” Whitlock mocks Nakase, pointing out that “she equates her own story, her height, her ethnicity, door slam with a sex category invasion she never had to live.”

And that’s exactly what Nakase did, as she claimed that being criticized herself has led her to have empathy for transgenders.


“How I’m seeing it is if I could answer with like for me, sports, sports is about belonging. It’s about inclusivity. It’s about allowing everyone to be their authentic self. You know, I’m big on that just because I have been criticized for my height, for my ethnicity,” Nakase said.

“I’ve been in those, ‘you shouldn’t belong here,’ many times. And for me, I don’t want that space, especially Golden State, to ever feel like that. So I’m all about women, little girls, deserving to play, and that includes trans women. So I’m all about inclusivity,” she added.

“I’ve been called fat. ... So that’s why I’m inclusive of pedophiles, because I’ve been called fat. Don’t you see? Once you’ve been called fat, you believe in pedophilia,” Whitlock mocks. “That’s the logic she’s unpacking.”

“This is just ridiculous. I can’t believe that we have reached a point in human civilization where this is a talking point and a topic. I don’t. I, for the life of me, can’t understand. I’m watching the footage right now. I would be dominating that league,” Jay Skapniac chimes in.

“I’m 6’3”. I’m in my 40s. I haven’t touched the ball in like seven or eight years. Like, give me two months. Get me out there. And I’m dropping triple-doubles nightly,” he adds.

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Jason Whitlock: WNBA owner crashout was scripted to BREAK Caitlin Clark



Was the latest Caitlin Clark controversy genuine outrage — or a staged production? After two teenage girls sitting courtside at a WNBA match were publicly screamed at for using signs to thank Sophie Cunningham for standing up for women in sports, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock believes the answer is obvious.

“Here’s what the cameras won’t show you,” he begins. “Sitting courtside almost shoulder to shoulder with those two teenage girls, there’s this older woman with her own pre-printed sign. ‘No hate in these United States.’ A counterprotester planted, and yes, I’m using the word ‘planted.’”

“In the same frame, rebuttal already made, ready for the shot. Two kids thank an athlete. And there’s a grown activist positioned right next to them with the comeback in hand,” he says.


“Spontaneous fan moments don’t come staged like that,” he adds.

Whitlock doesn’t even believe the presence of the teenage girls was organic.

“This whole thing seems staged, including the two cute little teenage girls juxtaposed against this tatted up, angry, unattractive older woman. This is like a movie script. All of this stuff feels scripted,” he says.

“The media will run the owner’s apology all day,” he continues. “They will not show you that sign. They will not show you all the casting that was done here. The owner got punished. A five-game suspension. She can’t come back to the arena … for five games. There’s some sort of fine.”

“But the coverage still pivoted to ‘why won’t the golden goose, why won’t Caitlin Clark apologize for this?’” he says, adding, “Somebody assigned these roles before the ball went up. The owner plays the heel, the media plays the prosecutor, and Caitlin Clark is cast as the defendant in a trial where the verdict was tight before she woke up.”

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The WNBA’s message to young girls: Stay quiet on trans athletes



What began as two teenage girls holding a sign at a WNBA game has exploded into a much larger controversy over Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and the future of the league itself.

After Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted and berated the young fans for thanking Cunningham "for speaking up for girls," the incident quickly became a national story. But BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock argues the real target isn’t the teenagers — and it isn’t even Cunningham, who has spoken up against allowing men in women’s sports.

“Two teenage girls sit courtside holding a sign at the Fever-Storm game. ‘Thank you, Sophie, for speaking up for the girls.’ That’s the provocation. That’s the whole crime. And Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton walks up to those children and unloads,” Whitlock explains.

“‘I hope Jesus can forgive you for what sin you’ve done. God can save you,’” he mimics. “Points at her own head. Calls them ‘effing insane,’” he says.


Whitlock is disturbed, pointing out that “a grown millionaire owner used the name of Jesus as a weapon against those two girls.”

And Cunningham spoke out again following the incident, writing in a post on X: “I truly believe there is a safe space and love for EVERYBODY. Biological girls, biological boys, trans women, and trans men. Everyone is welcome at my table! You can disagree and still be kind. Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You’ll be hearing from me soon. Yay for gifts.”

“Truly embarrassing of the co-owner. Unfortunately shows the type of leader she is,” she added.

And while Cunningham is taking heat for not denouncing the young girls and their beliefs, so is Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark.

“This was never about a sign. It’s about who that sign represents. Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and the millions of normal, heterosexual sports fans they dragged into these arenas. This league resents the audience that legitimized it,” Whitlock explains, before playing a clip of Elle Duncan of Netflix demanding Clark denounce her fans.

Duncan called on Clark to say, “Stop that s**t. I don’t want it. I’m tired of it.”

“She’s demanding that Caitlin Clark denounce her fans for what other adults did,” Whitlock says.

“She’s an idiot,” he adds.

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Jason Whitlock: 49ers coach's violent crash story isn’t passing the smell test



49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is insisting that a momentary distraction behind the wheel caused a crash between him and a young woman and left him with a broken nose, broken ribs, a broken hand, and stitches in his face.

And while it appears that he is taking accountability for his actions, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock isn’t buying the official story.

“This Kyle Shanahan story has gotten even more interesting to me,” he says.

“He holds a private, no-cameras-allowed press conference, or question-and-answer deal, with the local reporters in the Bay Area. No national media, no cameras,” he continues.


“What are we doing here?” he asks, pointing out that his injuries don’t quite match the accident.

“He’s going 20 miles per hour in an area that he knows is difficult terrain, and he’s reaching for his phone and he breaks his nose. He breaks three ribs. He breaks a hand. 40 stitches in his face,” Whitlock says.

“When I start thinking about it, it’s like somebody beat this man up, and I don’t believe it was the Tesla. I don’t believe it was the airbags in a Tesla or a Mercedes. I come away from yesterday even more suspicious,” he explains.

“So you’re saying this is Tiger Woods Thanksgiving 2009,” Steve Kim comments. “That’s kind of what you’re insinuating here. You said ‘beat up.’”

“And think about it. I can understand if you’re all tore up. You got bandages. Your nose is probably all busted. So you’re saying this is what you’re theorizing without saying it. His wife found out something and she took a nine iron to him,” he adds.

While Whitlock doesn’t believe it’s exactly like Tiger Woods, he does point out that “when you go to these lengths” to keep the story private, something feels off.

“It just doesn’t smell right to me,” he says.

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Jason Whitlock torches Ryan Clark’s teary ESPN exit: ‘He couldn’t stay in his lane’



After Ryan Clark was fired from ESPN, he used the opportunity to portray himself as someone who stood on principle and represented his community.

But BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock sees a different story and isn’t buying Clark’s latest teary appearance on “The Pivot Podcast.”

“What I’m dealing with is, in truth, a first-world problem,” Clark said, before explaining that he represented the black community and “wouldn’t change anything.”

“‘Cause that means the world to me,” he said through tears.

“First-world problem. His words. And then two minutes of tears,” Whitlock says, before playing more of Clark’s reaction to his firing.


“A company who’s going to have the Super Bowl this year, who truly wants to put their best foot forward to the entire world and have the best people talking about football, wouldn’t fire, in my opinion, and it seems to be the opinion of many others, the best football analyst in the world,” Clark said.

“The self-proclaimed best football analyst in the world could not decipher his own work situation,” Whitlock comments.

“ESPN paid Ryan Clark to do one thing: talk football. That is the contract. That is the whole job description. And he couldn’t stay in his lane,” he adds.

Clark also claimed in the interview that he knew that he “couldn’t be too black.”

“Nobody asked him to be the racial conscience of Bristol, Connecticut. His bosses didn’t commission it. The audience didn’t demand it. He appointed himself. And then he was surprised when the people writing the checks didn’t appreciate the self-appointment,” Whitlock says.

Despite claiming that it was never about the money, Clark went on to complain that he had a life of “excess” taken away from him, which he was using to help his family.

“No accountability, no self-awareness, just the excesses, the parents, the nieces, the nephews, the lifestyle they’re accustomed to. Threw it all away,” Whitlock says.

“The man who told you it was never about the money, then spent four minutes explaining in precise detail exactly what the money was for, exactly who depended on it, exactly what changes now that it’s gone,” he continues.

“He chose the community over his family,” he says, adding, “He thought that made him noble.”

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