Communities
Stephen A. Smith says HBCU funding was his main reason for going to the White House
The ESPN commentator says he used a White House dinner to press for HBCU support and to push back on claims about Black women in the workforce.
Stephen A. Smith says he did not walk into a White House dinner for small talk. The ESPN commentator told viewers that backing historically Black colleges was the main reason he accepted the invitation and sat down with the president.
Smith joined the dinner with comedian Bill Maher and musician Kid Rock. He later devoted a long stretch of his "Straight Shooter with Stephen A." show to walking through what was said and why he went.
HBCU money on the table
On Fox News with Sean Hannity, Smith said the president had a ready answer on topic after topic. The exception, in Smith's telling, was money for HBCUs and the FUTURE Act, the law that sets aside $255 million a year for Black colleges.
Federal dollars for those schools are already on the books, Smith argued. What worries him is that some private companies have pulled back on their own giving. He said those firms fear being accused of racial preferences while the administration keeps its fight trained on DEI programs.
Smith said the president signaled he would take another look at that concern.
A pushback on Black women in the workforce
The conversation also turned to Black women who lost federal jobs after the 2025 workforce cuts. Smith recalled the president claiming those women were doing fine in private jobs. Smith said that was not what he hears from his community.
"Respectfully, sir," Smith recalled telling him. He said the kitchen-table view from Black women does not match the rosy private-sector picture and that the pain is real even when official numbers look different.
Why he went
On his own show, Smith put the motive in plain terms. When he sees HBCUs in trouble, he said, he will help however he can. That includes accepting a White House invitation, shaking the president's hand and speaking respectfully while still pressing the point.
The appearance caps months of public sparring between Smith and the president. This time Smith used the seat at the table to put HBCU funding and Black women's job losses at the center of the talk.
