Vice President Kamala Harris is taking heat for not holding a single press conference since becoming the Democratic presidential candidate, but she found time to appear on a popular NBA podcast.
The vice president sat down with former basketball players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes for a special episode of their ‘All the Smoke’ podcast in a wide-ranging interview that lasted approximately 45 minutes.
The podcast hosts use their platform to discuss the latest news both on and off the basketball court.
During the episode released on Monday, the three discussed Harris’ allegiance to the Golden State Warriors, but also branched out to address a number of other topics, from politics to her family and family.social identity.
The interview recorded at her Washington, DC home is the latest in a series of appearances in less traditional media by the vice president as she prepares her run for the White House.
Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast with hosts and former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, where they talked about basketball, as well as her family, racial identity, and some politics in a friendly interview environment .
It comes as Harris faces criticism for largely avoiding difficult interviews with journalists who would grill her on the issues, instead opting to appear on friendlier platforms as she works to reach voters across the country.
The vice president has gone more than seventy days without holding a solo press conference since first becoming the presumptive and then official Democratic presidential candidate.
Even as the New York Times editorial board endorsed Harris for president on Monday, it criticized her approach to the media and what appeared to be an effort to avoid unforced errors.
The group of opinion journalists wrote that “leaving the public feeling that they are being protected from difficult questions, as Mr. Biden has been, could backfire by undermining his central argument that a capable new generation is ready to take the reins of power.” ‘
The vice president was also mocked for appearing on the NBA’s online podcast before its release.
Harris appeared at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on September 29. The New York Times editorial board endorsed her for president, but noted the lack of spontaneous access. The vice president has not held a solo news conference in more than 70 days since he became the presumptive and then official candidate.
In response to the news about his meeting with Jackson and Barnes, NBA columnist John Hollinger jokingly posted some “Harris talking points.”
Sports journalist Robby Kalland posted on X “can’t wait to hear Kamala’s welcome moment to the league.”
‘Kamala Harris, will you promise to hire a special prosecutor to determine if Warriors Twitter was the driving force behind Kevin Durant’s departure in free agency?’ wrote a user
Another
Those who want to hear all about the vice president’s knowledge of the NBA may be disappointed. While the interview began with California basketball, it quickly moved on to other topics.
Harris was San Francisco district attorney during the Golden State Warriors’ ‘We Believe’ season when they were based in Oakland and made a dramatic turnaround.
Both Jackson and Barnes played on the team at the time in Harris’ hometown.
‘Our Warriors are always good, whatever the season, but that was a very special moment,’ the vice president recalls smiling. ‘I mean it was electric. Remember it was electric.
Harris gushed about the team as “the best of the best, legendary” and quickly turned the question back to his hosts to ask what it was like for them to play at that time.
Harris addressed her and Emhoff by “speaking some bad words” depending on who plays next, since he supports the Los Angeles teams.
When asked about his feelings about all of Oakland’s current teams, Harris passionately responded, “It breaks my heart.” Remember we used to have all the best.’
While the interview began largely with sports and the introduction of the presidential candidate, the discussion eventually turned to politics, including some serious topics.
They discussed civil rights and efforts to pass the police reform bill, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
The group also joked about the importance of HBCUs and focused on working to address mental health. It’s a topic the podcast hosts were passionate about, noting that mental health is a big issue in the Black community, especially among Black men.
“I think the mental health issue is probably one of the biggest public policy failures in our country,” Harris said.
The vice president spoke about more effective peer-based mental health care and mentioned working “with a brother” on the issue in DC.
Harris got personal in the interview when asked how she protects her own mental health, listing her number one rule “don’t read comments,” exercising every morning, and encouraging people to be intentional about who they surround themselves with.
Harris also talked about her economic platform that she has begun to lay out on the campaign trail as she works to drum up support, including help for first-time homebuyers and expanding the Child Tax Credit.
In a series of rapid-fire questions, the vice president also said she doesn’t think people should go to jail for “smoking marijuana,” saying, “I’ve felt for a long time that we need to legalize it.”
Overall, the interview was supportive of the vice president, with the hosts calling the conservative Project 2025 agenda “disgusting work.”
Harris, who was hard-pressed to deliver the best artist in Bay Area history, responded with rapper Too Short. His guilty pleasure: Doritos.
When asked who she would like to invite to dinner, Harris noted that her husband and mother had never met. It also listed the first black woman elected to Congress, Shirley Chisholm, and the first black Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall.
Encompassing how friendly his appearance was, the interview included the vice president even inviting Jackson and Barnes to a future Sunday dinner and enveloping them by gifting him a signed coffee table book.
His appearance on the podcast generated mixed responses online. One X user called him “dumb” while another wrote “good conversation bro.” Some praised him for a mix of personality and politics.
But others were much less impressed. One user wrote simply “unfollowed.”
Harris has chosen to sit down with a number of more supportive media platforms as the clock ticks down to Election Day.
Last week, he had an interview on liberal-leaning MSNBC. Last month, one of his select appearances was answering music-related questions with Track Star on TikTok.
When asked about criticism from the New York Times editorial board for her lack of spontaneous access in her CNN endorsement on Monday, a senior campaign spokesperson noted that the vice president was on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast, calling it a not spontaneous about who she is. .
The campaign noted that she will continue to speak to the American people in those formats, but argued that she does answer questions from reporters while traveling.
