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Michelle Obama has taken her podcast’s name, IMO, to heart, and has not hesitated to give her opinion on just about anything.
During the podcast’s run — which she cohosts with her brother Craig — she keeps it real about her own marriage, but on a recent episode, she switched gears when talking about sports.
More specifically, ESPN’s coverage and she may have earned points with sports purists who haven’t liked the network’s pivots from analytics to boisterous personalities barking at each other as they jump from topic to topic.
The former First Lady likens it to some of Bravo’s biggest hits.
“It’s all a sociological study. They think that sports is better reality TV, I’m like, ‘it’s the same thing.’ If I listen to ESPN for an hour, it’s like watching the ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta,’ you know?” Obama said. “It’s the same drama, and they’re yelling at each other, and they don’t get along, you know?”
Of course, when you think about the words “loud” and “ESPN,” the first name to pop up into your head is likely Stephen A. Smith, who is the cornerstone of First Take and appears on several other shows.
Obama thinks that Smith’s entertainment value isn’t too far off from any of the regional shows under the Real Housewives umbrella.
“I mean, Stephen A. Smith, he’s just like every other. So that’s why I’m like, ‘what’s the difference?’ It’s just, you know, it’s just sociological drama. I mean, the fact that people over seasons of working still can’t get along. They still have the same arguments, you know, and it’s not just women. But this happens in sports, too. I find it fascinating.”
Smith also has his own The Stephen A. Smith Show platform where he addresses everything from relationship advice to politics, so we wouldn’t be surprised if he creates more drama with an entertaining response to what Obama said.
See how social media is reacting to Obama’s opinion on ESPN below.