{"id":267,"date":"2025-03-20T16:34:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T17:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/?p=267"},"modified":"2025-03-24T11:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T11:17:12","slug":"stephen-a-smith-calls-hegseth-dei-amid-jackie-robinson-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/stephen-a-smith-calls-hegseth-dei-amid-jackie-robinson-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith calls Hegseth ‘DEI’ amid Jackie Robinson controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith said he thinks the hiring of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is an example of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) amid backlash surrounding the removal of Jackie Robinson\u2019s military career from the department’s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cPete Hegseth is the head of the Defense Department. He has served our country with honor. I am not trying to knock him or denigrate him in any way, we got to root for our elected politicians or the people that they assigned to departments and wish them nothing but the best in America’s best interest,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut the fact of the matter is, how is he not DEI?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth was one of President Trump\u2019s more controversial Cabinet nominees. After serving in the Army, Hegseth went on to be a co-host of Fox News\u2019s \u201cFox & Friends Weekend.\u201d He was confirmed by the Senate<\/a> despite having sexual assault and alcohol abuse allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow in the hell do you go from being a weekend host to being the head of over three and a half million people for the Defense Department of the United States?\u201d Smith questioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe happens to be white \u2026 but we don\u2019t mention DEI when it comes to him,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Smith’s comments on his ESPN show<\/a> come as the Department of Defense faced backlash this week after an article dedicated to Robinson, the baseball legend, and his time in the Army was removed from the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is it always attached to Black people?\u201d Smith questioned. \u201cThis is the kind of stuff that we\u2019re asking ourselves, and on a day like today, it gives us more credence to ask that question because of what happened to Jackie Robinson.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Defense Department previously had a webpage dedicated to Robinson\u2019s service in the Army, but as of Tuesday, the page no longer existed. The Pentagon appeared unaware that Robinson\u2019s page was gone and said they would \u201clook into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith questioned the legitimacy of the response, asking if \u201cwe\u2019re supposed to believe that\u2019s accidental?\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has sought to eradicate DEI initiatives from the federal government. Shortly after taking office, Trump issued executive orders<\/a> looking to curb the country\u2019s DEI initiatives in government spaces.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the conservative Supreme Court overturned affirmative action<\/a> for U.S. education institutions. Smith argued on his show that affirmative action helps far more people than just Black Americans, but it\u2019s often overlooked.<\/p>\n

The Hill has reached out to the Defense Department for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith said he thinks the hiring of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is an example of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) amid backlash surrounding the removal of Jackie Robinson\u2019s military career from the department’s website. \u201cPete Hegseth is the head of the Defense Department. He has served our country with honor. I am not trying to knock him or denigrate him in any way, we got to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions\/268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogetterlifestylebrand.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}