Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman Torches Stephen A. Smith for Criticizing Mark Kelly Over ‘Illegal Orders’ Speech: ‘Just an Absolute Moron’

Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman went off on the “uninformed” Stephen A. Smith in response to his harsh criticism of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

Last week, Smith went on a fiery rant attacking Kelly, a former Navy captain and astronaut, for calling on military members to “refuse illegal orders” coming from President Donald Trump.

Smith, who notably has no military background, took exception to the remarks and claimed “I know better than” to do what Kelly did.

“How dare you?” Smith exclaimed during the rant.

In a recent TikTok, Pearlman called Smith a “moron” and blasted him for his political takes in general. Pearlman added:

OK, first of all, Stephen A. Smith is a moron, just an absolute moron. It is crazy that he now has a voice in politics. His takes are lazy, uninformed, uneducated. He doesn’t do research. He treats it the same way he treats talking about kickers in the NFL. It’s just bullshit, bluster, nonsense, a way for him to get paid.

No. 2: Probably 85% of Americans have some relative who served in the military. It’s easy. My dad was in the National Guard. “I had relatives who served in the National Guard.” My uncle John was in the army… We all have relatives, alright? If you didn’t serve, shut the fuck up. You don’t actually know.

@jeffpearlmanauthor I am beyond fed up with Stephen A. Smith and his uninformed, attention-seeking political garbage. #stephenasmith #markkelly #politics #america #trump ♬ original sound – Jeff Pearlman

Pearlman then pointed to Smith’s close relationship with Sean Hannity and argued it was an example of him making white people “feel comfortable with their own racism by standing alongside racists.” He claimed fellow commentator Jason Whitlock was guilty of the same thing.

Pearlman went on:

And the worst part of it all is Stephen A. Smith is just uninformed. He just — the next time he says something about politics that’s insightful, that’s researched, that is eye-opening but in an informational way, will be the first time. It just doesn’t exist with him.

This is all attention, attention, attention. He needs to grab the oxygen. He needs to convince conservative whites that they should listen to him, while still also convincing liberal Black and Latinos and whites that they should listen to him. It is an act. It is bullshit. And you sit in there bashing people like Mark Kelly, actual veterans who actually served. It’s just ludicrous, and you just need to freaking stop because you don’t know what you’re talking about. It is all just attention for you and money for you, which is really bullshit in these dangerous times.

Pearlman is no stranger to going after the face of ESPN. In April 2024, he called Smith out for arguing that Trump relates to Black people due to his legal issues.