Stephen A. Calls Award “Bullsh*t.” NABJ Pushes Accountability Over Harmful Black Women Commentary

Stephen A. Smith called NABJ’s Thumbs Down Award “bullshit.” NABJ says the issue is bigger than his reaction: harmful commentary about Black women, accountability, and what influential media voices normalize. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (724) 264-8281 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/roland Paid Partnership Stephen A. Smith says he heard NABJ loud and clear after receiving the organization’s 2026 Thumbs Down Award. But he also called the decision “bullshit.” Roland Martin spoke with NABJ President Errin Haines and DeWayne Wickham, NABJ Co-founder and Former President who started the Thumbs Down Award, about why Stephen A. was named and what accountability should look like. Haines says the organization is not trying to cancel Stephen A. Smith. She says the concern is accountability, especially around what influential commentary can normalize about Black women. Haines argues that repeatedly framing Black women as unqualified or undeserving of authority can shape how audiences, newsrooms, and future journalists see Black women. Her message to Stephen A. is direct: “a rebuttal is not accountability.” Wickham, who created the Thumbs Down Award during his NABJ presidency, defends the organization’s responsibility to publicly call out conduct that harms Black journalists or Black communities. He says Stephen A. has a long history with NABJ, but “you can't get a pass” when harm is done to NABJ members or the Black community. Roland also widens the frame beyond Stephen A. Smith. NABJ named five recipients this year, including FCC Chair Brendan Carr, CBS, Circle City Broadcasting owner DuJuan McCoy, Stephen A. Smith, and The Washington Post. Roland says the intense focus on Stephen A. risks overshadowing broader concerns about Black journalists, newsroom diversity, editorial independence, and the future of Black journalism. #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BlackStarNetwork #StephenASmith #NABJ #BlackWomen #BlackJournalists #BlackMedia #MediaAccountability Black Star Network Partner: Chapter Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options We’ve launched our official Telegram channel. Follow for the latest videos from #RolandMartinUnfiltered & Black Star Network. No algorithms. Just updates. 👉🏾 t.me/blackstarnetwork Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjXB7nX8bL2U2sje8d212Yw/join Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork 👉🏾 Use Cash App by visiting Stripe https://buy.stripe.com/7sI3ccgYyfSQ8y45kl 👉🏾 PayPal ☛ https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered Venmo ☛https://venmo.com/rmunfiltered Zelle ☛ roland@rolandsmartin.com Annual or monthly recurring #BringTheFunk Fan Club membership via paypal ☛ https://rolandsmartin.com/rmu-paypal/ Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox 👉🏾 http://www.blackstarnetwork.com #RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.