Tavis Smiley Is Alive

ORIGIN
Tavis Smiley is an American talk show host, political commentator, and author. He’s worked with multiple networks including PBS, BET, ABC, and CNN. His hosting credits include ‘The Tavis Smiley Show’, ‘BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley’, and ‘Smiley & West’. Smiley was born on September 13, 1964, in Gulfport, Mississippi. His biological mother is Joyce Marie Roberts and his stepfather is Emory Garnell Smiley. The family relocated to Bunker Hill, Indiana, where he attended Maconaquah High School. Smiley studied public affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in 2003. He’s also a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

CAREER
Smiley worked as an aide for then Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley from 1988 to 1990. Bradley was the first African-American to serve as mayor of Los Angeles. In 1991, Smiley ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council. His first radio gig was as a commentator on ‘The Smiley Report’ on KGFJ radio. He became a political commentator on ‘The Tom Joyner Morning Show’ in 1996. He held that position until 2008. Smiley served as host of ‘BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley’ from 1988 to 2001. He hosted ‘The Tavis Smiley Show’ on National Public Radio (NPR) from 2001 to 2004.

Smiley hosted his radio talk show ‘The Tavis Smiley Show’ on PRI from 2004 to 2017. The televised version of the show ran on PBS for 9 seasons (2004-15). He hosted the radio talk show ‘Smiley & West’ (2010-13) alongside philosopher Cornel West. Smiley was featured in the documentary film, Still Bill (2009), starring Bill Withers. He was a contestant on season 19 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. His film credits include Sinister (2012) with Ethan Hawke, and the documentary Stand (2009). Smiley has won multiple NAACP Image Awards over the years. He was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2009. His star was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.

Smiley has written several books, including Doing What’s Right (2000), Keeping the Faith (2002), What I Know for Sure (2006), Fail Up (2011), and 50 for Your Future: Lessons from Down the Road (2016). He contributed to the non-fiction book ‘The Covenant with Black America’ (2006). He co-wrote ‘The Rich and the Rest of Us’ (2012) with Cornel West, and ‘Before You Judge Me’ (2016) with David Ritz.

PERSONAL
Tavis Smiley has an estimated net worth of $10 million. His height is 6ft and he’s of African-American ancestry. He’s a distant relative of pastor T.D Jakes and actor James Wheaton.

In December 2017, Smiley was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple staff members. He was suspended indefinitely by PBS while they conduct an investigation. Smiley has denied all accusations. He released a statement on December 14, 2017 stating, “I have never groped, coerced or exposed myself inappropriately to any workplace colleague in my entire broadcast career, covering 6 networks over 30 years”.

Tavis Smiley Bio, Net Worth, Height