NBA analyst and sports talk host Stephen A. Smith recently registered his displeasure over the NFL responding to players mimicking the viral “Trump dance” during celebrations. Several athletes within and outside of the NFL have in recent times mimicked the president-elect’s viral dance, which he occasionally did at his campaign rallies.
And with the viral dance taking over the American sports scene, the NFL released a statement this week saying that they are not going to punish players who bust that move, the New York Post reported. But Smith in the latest episode of his podcast said that the statement from the league was unnecessary.
“Celebrations usually don’t warrant that. It doesn’t require a response from the league,” Smith said. “So why was it necessary this time? You know why? Because we got a bunch of people still living with their heads in the cloud acting like they get to protest every little damn thing. This is America. Donald Trump won the election, rather convincingly, I might add.”
The NFL players who have done the “Trump dance” include 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley, and Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith.
“And why am I ticked off?” Smith added. “Because it was emblematic of the climate that we’ve been living in for years now, which is why I believe Donald Trump was really elected… woke culture, cancel culture, oh hell yes, that played a role. When you got people walking around wondering whether or not they’re echoing the right pronoun.
“Wondering whether or not that was gonna cost them their job or being PC because God forbid your opinion is different than the average folk walking around in America. Lord knows what would happen to you. That’s what America regressed to.”
United States men’s national soccer team star Christian Pulisic similarly joined in the fun and did the “Trump dance” after he scored a goal when they faced Jamaica on Monday.
“I saw everyone doing it yesterday in the NFL, I saw Jon Jones do it, and we were just having a bit of fun,” Pulisic said about his celebration, Goal.com reported. “I thought it was a pretty fun dance. Obviously, that’s the ‘Trump Dance’ but it was just a dance that everyone was doing. He’s the one who created it, and I thought it was funny.”
He also clarified that it was “not a political dance.” “It was just for fun. I saw a bunch of people do it and thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it,” he explained.
