It was striking — and frankly refreshing — to see ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith step into the Jeffrey Epstein debate on Sean Hannity’s program and call out the way this saga has been twisted into political theater. Smith’s appearance on Hannity didn’t read like a scripted hit piece; he spoke about the dangers of turning a criminal tragedy into a partisan cudgel, and that candor deserves credit even from those of us who rarely agree with his network’s worldview.
Too often the left-wing media frames every development as an opportunity to score political points rather than to seek truth or justice, and Smith’s admonition hit that nerve. As he noted on air, politicization corrodes public confidence in institutions and in the victims who deserve real accountability — not rank, partisan spectacles.
The facts that have emerged this year complicate the conspiracy-laden narrative some on the right and left have trafficked in: a DOJ and FBI memo concluded after review that investigators found no incriminating “client list,” no credible evidence Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals, and reaffirmed that his death was a suicide. Conservatives should accept evidence where it exists and press for transparency where it does not.
Congress recently moved to force more sunlight on the matter, passing the so-called Epstein Files Transparency Act and sending it to the president, who signed it into law in mid-November — a win for oversight and for Americans tired of secrets. That legislative victory proves there is broad, bipartisan appetite for transparency, and it underscores why media outlets should stop spinning documents into political ammunition before any sober review is complete.
Still, the public’s skepticism didn’t arise in a vacuum — it came from decades of elites protecting elites and from mainstream outlets that reflexively buried or softened stories that might have discomforted powerful institutions. Stephen A.’s willingness to call out political theater on Hannity is a reminder that real patriots of any party ought to demand both accountability for predators and due process for the innocent.
Let the record show conservatives want victims heard and perpetrators punished, not weaponized dossiers used to take down opponents. If the DOJ and FBI say there’s no client list and that the evidence doesn’t warrant further prosecutions, the proper response is to keep investigating bona fide leads, protect victims’ privacy, and stop the media grandstanding that only fans the flames of division.
Hardworking Americans deserve news that seeks truth, not theater. Stephen A. Smith’s comments on Hannity are a small but important rebuke to the partisan hacks who treat such a grave story like a ratings stunt — and a call to every citizen to insist on accountability, transparency, and respect for the victims above all else.
