During a NewsNation town hall on Wednesday, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith abruptly walked off stage after an audience member shared the personal impact of the ongoing government shutdown.
Jack Criss Jr., an audience member at the NewsNation Town Hall, said when he gets off work, he is driving for DoorDash just to pay for his daughter’s tuition.
“I’m an air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration. I’ve been there for 16 years. I’ve also been through the Obama shutdown and the Trump shutdown in the previous…,” Criss Jr. told the panel, including NewsNation host Chris Cuomo, Bill O’Reilly, and several Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
“My question is, under the current political climate, do you think this shutdown could actually be longer than the previous shutdown? … I am actually driving DoorDash when I got off from work just to make sure I can pay for my daughter’s tuition,” Criss continued.
The scenario prompted panelist Stephen A. Smith to walk off the stage in disgust.
“This is not a game,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., about Criss’ concerns. “It’s not. There are people like you who aren’t going to get paid.”
“I don’t think Washington understands how ticked off we truly are. … A young man walked up to the microphone and said that he had to leave here to go and work on DoorDash to help pay for his daughter’s tuition. Meanwhile, everybody up here is getting paid, but he ain’t,” Smith replied.
“A government shutdown is going on right now. A man has to work on DoorDash when he’s really an air traffic controller that we applauded, and we’re up here talking about how much some money is going to cost, and the only person that don’t have a check coming is him. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to take a break,” Smith said as he stood up from his chair and left.
The government shutdown is entering its third week after Democrats and Republicans couldn’t reach a deal on funding to keep it open.