‘When you are a weekend host on Fox News, and now you are the Defense Secretary of the United States overseeing 3.5 million people, that is not qualified!” Stephen A. Smith declared on Tuesday night. ESPN host Stephen A. Smith threw Sean Hannity’s complaints about diversity, equity and inclusion back into his face on Tuesday night by wondering how exactly Hannity’s former Fox News colleague Pete Hegseth was “qualified” to run the massive Department of Defense.

The bombastic sports pundit’s retort to Hannity — who he has long considered a close pal — comes as the Trump administration and Fox News personalities have baselessly blamed DEI for the horrific D.C. plane crash that left 67 dead. “They actually came out with a directive saying it’s too white,” Trump claimed about the FAA’s hiring policies, adding that the agency brought on people with “severe mental disabilities” under Joe Biden.

“Their diversity push includes a focus on hiring people with ‘severe intellectual’ and ‘psychiatric’ disabilities,’” he stated, pointing to the FAA’s policy change that was in effect throughout Trump’s entire first term. “Now, Stephen A., you fly a lot. Do you want people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities in that control tower?”. Replying “not at all,” Smith went on to take issue with the way Republicans have scapegoated minorities and women as being at fault following the accident — a trend that has followed other disasters and tragedies.

“My issue with the eradication of DEI was… the explanation that the Trump administration and others were giving about it. I don’t want to hear DEI automatically being about people who happen to be minorities that are unqualified,” Smith declared. “That is what I was saying, is that it’s one thing to get rid of it altogether. It is another thing entirely to articulate and verbalize the position that, excuse me, you know what? Everybody that was associated with DEI are unqualified individuals.”.

While Hannity asserted that the two were in agreement, the ESPN personality brought up the recent confirmation of Hegseth — who spent years as a Fox & Friends Weekend co-host before Trump installed him to run the Pentagon. “But when you have somebody like Hegseth, for example. Let’s use him because he’s your former colleague at Fox News,” Smith noted, prompting Hannity to tell his guest to “keep my friend out of this.”.

“I’m not bringing up anything personal,” Smith retorted. “I’m simply saying — my God, Sean — when you’re talking about people who are unqualified, I wish him nothing but the best, he served our country in the military, I get all of that. But when you are a weekend host on Fox News, and now you are the Defense Secretary of the United States overseeing 3.5 million people, that is not qualified!”.

The Fox News host and Trump confidant objected, citing Hegseth's Ivy League education and military service as qualifications for the job while wondering if Smith could personally match those qualifications. “I didn’t say he wasn’t intelligent,” Smith shot back. “Why don’t we give a real soldier an opportunity?” Hannity grumbled in defense of Hegseth. “OK, that’s fair! But say that! Say that!” Smith exclaimed.