Stephen A. Smith claims Gavin Newsom is ducking his podcast

Stephen A. Smith confronted California Governor Gavin Newsom during Super Bowl week in San Francisco about appearing on his podcast, and, according to Smith, Newsom said he would do it.

Weeks later, the interview still hasn’t happened, and Smith went on Sean Hannity’s new podcast to publicly call out the 2028 presidential hopeful for ducking him.

“I saw him during Super Bowl week, and I said to him, ‘There’s really no excuse for you to be avoiding me,'” Smith told Hannity on the debut episode of Hang Out with Sean Hannity, which drops Tuesday morning. “‘All I want to do is ask the questions that people want to hear, and I want to give you the platform on the record to answer them any way you choose.'”

“He ain’t coming,” Hannity chimed in.

Going on Hannity’s podcast to publicly call out Newsom for ducking an interview is pretty much the best way to guarantee Newsom never sits down with you. Smith claims he just wants to ask fair questions and give Newsom a platform to answer, but he’s making that pitch while appearing as the debut guest on a show hosted by a Fox News personality who just spent several minutes admonishing Newsom.

Smith positioning himself as the arbiter of fairness while sitting in Hannity’s Florida man cave is rich, but it gets at what Smith has been trying to do since he started wading into political commentary. He wants to be seen as an independent voice who can sit down with people across the political spectrum and have substantive conversations. He’s interviewed Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. He’s appeared on everything from The View to NewsNation to the Full Send Podcast. He describes himself as a Democrat but has become one of the party’s most vocal critics.

ESPN gave Smith permission to explore political topics on his independently owned platforms when they renegotiated his contract, arguing that this creates “clear lines” between Smith’s sports work and his political commentary. Burke Magnus, ESPN’s president of content, said last year that viewers can differentiate between “ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith” and the political commentator who appears on cable news.

That may be wishful thinking, as it’s hard to know if audiences actually see a differentiation.

Smith remains the face of First Take and one of ESPN’s biggest stars. When he goes on Fox News or CNN to talk politics, he’s still ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. The arrangement works for ESPN because it lets Smith scratch his political itch without putting the company in the position of platforming political opinions on SportsCenter. It works for Smith because he gets to build his political brand while keeping his ESPN salary, which will reportedly exceed $20 million per year under his new deal.

Smith insists he’s independent and approaches politics the same way he approaches sports, with an open mind and a willingness to change his opinion when presented with new information. But his recent trajectory suggests he’s figured out that criticizing Democrats and appearing on conservative-friendly platforms is good for his brand. He went on a media blitz after the 2024 election, hitting right-leaning shows and positioning himself as the Democrat willing to call out his own party. He’s talked openly about running for office in 2028, though it’s unclear whether he’s serious or just enjoying the attention that comes with being mentioned as a potential candidate. In that same interview, Smith told Hannity that he won’t run for president, but even then, left the door open a crack.

None of that is necessarily disqualifying for the interview Smith is pitching. But it does make Newsom’s reluctance easier to understand. You don’t have to be ducking somebody to conclude that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

“I’m not going to push back and challenge you like I’m trying to debate you,” Smith said, explaining to Hannity what he told Newsom. “But the one thing I am going to do is ask you the questions that Californians want to know.”

That might be exactly what he’d do. It’s just hard to make that case while sitting on Sean Hannity’s couch.