Stephen A Smith doubles down on criticizing Mark Kelly over troops video in 'The View' debate

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Stephen A Smith launched a tirade against 'The View' co-hosts as they questioned his decision to condemn Senator Mark Kelly for participating in a video telling US military members to ignore any unlawful orders from President Donald Trump. 

During the latest episode of the talk show, co-host Sunny Hostin brought up Smith’s criticism of the Senator and said the ESPN commentator was "loud and wrong."

Stephen A Smith says 'I’m not changing a thing'

A clip of Smith's remarks on Mark Kelly was aired during the segment, after which Hostin said, "I’d love to give you the opportunity to perhaps change your position on what you said."

Smith shot back, saying, "I’m not changing a thing. I didn’t stutter when I said it," as Hostin replied, "OK. You want to stay loud and wrong?"

"Well, you can call it loud and wrong all you want to. You’re entitled to your opinion, I’m entitled to mine," Smith replied.

Six Democratic lawmakers, including Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, appeared in a video in November that urged military and intelligence community members to consult their consciences and refuse to obey "illegal" orders.

They added while calling out the Trump administration, "This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community officials against American citizens." 

Following this, in his commentary on the video last Wednesday, Smith went after Kelly for appearing in the video and said, "Respectfully, senator, what the hell are you doing?"

"Looking into the camera and telling military men and women to ignore the commander-in-chief? How dare you? How dare you do that?" the sports commentator added.

Stephen A Smith defends his point against Mark Kelly

During the show, Hostin tried to debunk Smith’s point and said that before Pete Hegseth was Secretary of Defense, he expressed that military members should not follow unlawful orders.

Dismissing the point, Smith told Hostin, "First of all, I don’t give a damn what Pete Hegseth has to say, because I will tell you right now, he was never qualified for the job… I don’t care what he has to say. Let me get that out the way." 

ESPN featured commentator and executive producer Stephen A Smith on set on February 7, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana (Aaron M Sprecher/Getty Images)

He defended his point against Kelly, saying he was warning that, as a veteran, the senator could land in hot water if he’s caught saying that troops should disobey orders.

"You can be implicated for implying something if you are a former military member, or you are a present military member. It wasn’t what Mark Kelly said; it’s the fact that he was a combat Navy pilot who served in the military who would tell folks, ‘ignore an order,’ when it could get them in a world of trouble," Smith added.

Meanwhile, co-host Joy Behar and Hostin interjected and said Kelly mentioned ignoring "illegal" orders.

"I said illegal. I’m talking about illegal," Smith replied as Hostin said, "He said you don’t have to follow an unlawful order and that is in the military code of conduct. It didn’t sound like you were aware of that."

Smith replied, "Which I’m aware of" and Hostin said, "But it didn’t sound like you were aware of that during your show."

The sports commentator then said, "I disagree with you."