Stephen A. Smith is an enigmatic but controversial figure, with his rudimentary statements sometimes attracting him flak and criticism from viewers and NBA celebrities alike. The popular YouTuber and interviewer DJ Vlad from Vlad TV discussed with John Salley in his show a moment of disrespect he felt from the First Take analyst. With both Salley and Vlad slamming the ESPN star, the duo discussed how SAS’s behavior outside of television can attract trouble for him in the future.
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Stephen A. Smith has often made some lackluster and rudimentary remarks whenever he got attention from A-list celebrities like Michael Jordan. Furthermore, many of his comments on NBA players and other American celebrities have also attracted controversy for the analyst. As Vlad and John Salley both discussed, Stephen A’s off-screen interaction, especially being such discourteous and impolite, may someday cost him heavily, his reputation and everything that he has built through his career from Day 1.
John Salley slams Stephen A. Smith for disrespecting popular interviewer Vlad at Michael Jordan’s party
Over the years, DJ Vlad has earned a considerable reputation for his interviews with popular NBA celebrities on his show, Vlad TV. Describing an incident from two years back, Vlad narrated an unpleasant experience of first striking up a conversation with Stephen A. Smith at a Jordan party.
While they were standing outside the parking lot, Michael Jordan greeted SAS, to which the TV star responded with a rather moderate response. However, when Vlad approached Smith with a potential interview in mind, the conversation did not go as he had planned.
When Vlad tried telling Smith that he covers him on his show, Smith’s response was a rather, lackluster and arrogant one, wherein he claimed every media house covers his shows. However, what struck Vlad was the sheer arrogance and discourteousness Stephen A. showed while speaking to the popular interviewer.
Vlad was stunned and taken aback by SAS’s response. His inherent feeling was acting in self-defense against Smith’s hostility with a response from his armed security personnel. Noting his own considerable power and influence in the industry, Vlad concluded that he could also say something ignorant without repercussions. However, weighing the possible consequences on his reputation, he chose not to do so.
“For me to turn around and act like a jacka** at a Jordan party was not something that I’m trying to do in my life. But I’m like, ‘Yo man! we’re all working here.’ And I think he realized what he said was just real jacka** like, and I just turned around and I’m like, ‘Yo! that’s a real a**hole sh*t!’ ”
John Salley had good reasoning behind Stephen A. Smith’s abrupt and uncourteous behavior. Being solo in the industry for this long, SAS always tries to never let his guard down. Salley gave the example of how many people even wanted Charles Barkley to throw SAS through a plain glass window. Rationalizing SAS’s approach, Salley said,
“You gotta admit you also ready for him to be an a**hole. People want Charles Barkley to throw him through a plain glass window. Like some people…they poke the bear! He probably was just feeling himself…You gotta understand Stephen. He’s by himself, he’s a solo artist. He’s a solo artist with no manager to take the light, there’s no flunkies over to go, so literally, the good and the bad is on him….Stephen has to be on guard, cause a lot of people come at him like they know him.”
As John Salley concluded, Vlad must have caught SAS on a bad day. There is no question about Stephen A. Smith’s star status as a TV personality. However, Vlad still seemed quite hurt and disappointed by the response that he received. He wasn’t expecting that from the First Take star. But to his bad luck, perhaps SAS was really having a bad day!
Stephen A. Smith once expressed his distraught working with former ESPN co-analyst Max Kellerman
Max Kellerman left ESPN’s First Take almost two years ago and his co-analyst, Stephen A. Smith, did not have quite nice words about his colleague. Speaking on The Joe Budden Podcast, SAS elaborated further on his split with Kellerman and he did not seem to hold back.
“It’s just that **** simple. I didn’t like it. I thought the show was stale. I thought that we had flatlined when it came to the public at large. I didn’t want to go from No. 1 to No. 2. when Skip [Bayless] left. I wasn’t having that. That **** wasn’t gonna happen.”
This wasn’t the first time Stephen A. has been blunt about the work culture and his colleagues around him. The Smith-Kellerman split ideally came from the two hosts’ separate visions for the show. Though Smith had ratings to prove how Kellerman’s departure helped the show grow, the nasty beef between these two TV stars is something quite unfortunate within the media industry.
