In the two decades he has spent talking about sports, there have been very few days when Stephen A. Smith hasn’t picked a fight with someone. From talking trash about LeBron James’ son, Bronny, to completely not getting why Michele Obama asserted that the USA wasn’t ready for women to lead yet, Smith has stoked almost all the fires out there.
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The analyst was caught playing Solitaire during Game 4 of the NBA finals last season. Criticism followed, as expected, but Smith managed to turn it into a profitable venture by partnering with an app called Solitaire Clash.
It should be noted that the app is owned by Papaya Gaming, which has been found defrauding customers by using bots during gameplay. Now, this wasn’t that much of a controversy compared to things that SAS has been accused of doing over the years.
However, that doesn’t mean he could get away without being dragged a little bit. Enter Michelle Beadle.
How it started (Beadle)
Smith replaced Beadle on SiriusXM Radio’s afternoon slot in September this year. However, Beadle’s criticism of Smith began long before. It stems from his inexcusable comments about the Ray Rice case in 2014. She had publicly stated that Stephen A’s words were tone deaf. That was some time ago, though.
This time, Beadle shot straight with her words. “ESPN pays him a gazillion dollars to get a lot of stuff wrong and yell,” she said. “He gets caught playing solitaire during the NBA freaking Finals, the thing he’s an expert in.”
Beadle also claimed that ESPN had created this “monster” that was now bigger than them and was running rampant all over the company. “He doesn’t even give a s**t about the stuff that he’s paid a gazillion dollars to talk about,” she continued.
“Now he’s turning around and turning that into a money-making opportunity. Then the money-making opportunity looks like it’s a fraudulent crap business to begin with,” the former ESPN broadcaster added.
“Honestly, I’m not a religious person, but I pray for the downfall … It’s gross, man, you gotta have principles in this thing,” she told Barrett Media.
Beadle, however, wasn’t the only one on Smith’s case this week.
Cari Champion joins in
Cari Champion was around when Beadle held Smith responsible for laying the blame on women for domestic violence. She jumped right into the feud.
“I’m old enough to remember being on that show and getting in trouble based on some comments you said about women and whether or not they should know their place when it comes to abuse or non-abuse. Ray Rice comes to mind, but I’m not gonna get into the details of all of that,” said Champion, who then brought her own experience while dealing with Smith into the conversation.
“Beadle just came for you yet again, like she did when I worked at ESPN… I wonder do you have that same smoke for her that you have for Jasmine Crockett, Michelle Obama, that you sometimes have for me and Jemele Hill,” added Champion.
Naturally, Smith didn’t take to Champion’s comments kindly. In fact, he made it rather personal.
Smith’s response to Champion
In a most dramatic setting, replete with Shakespearean theater pauses to make his point, Smith asserted that Champion only had a job at ESPN because of him. He even claimed credit for giving opportunities to people from diverse backgrounds on First Take.
“When we see the diverse people that come on First Take, Black people, women, the list goes on and on. Who did that? That wasn’t happening when Skip was there. That was me. What are you talking about?” Smith stated.
“The TV personality also suggested that Champion was only talking the way she was because she was starved of attention.“Are you sick of the attention you’re not getting because you’re not on ESPN anymore?” He asked.
Now, if you thought that this was the end of the story, you are wrong. Well, another one of Smith’s former ESPN colleagues, Jemelle Hill, hadn’t had her say yet.
Hill’s response to Smith’s comments
The former SportsCenter anchor made it a point to establish that Smith’s remarks about essentially getting Champion a job aren’t exactly out of character for him since he’s made similar claims about Hill previously.
Hill admitted that Smith’s Quite Frankly gave opportunities to black “opinionists and opinion-makers” of the time. However, she asserted that she knew for a fact that Smith didn’t make Champion’s career possible.
“I know that unequivocally is not true. I’ll just say what it is. Do I think you put in a good word here and there for Cari? I’m not saying that you didn’t. But you make it seem like you scouted her at the Tennis Channel, you brought her over to ESPN, and that’s how she got ‘First Take.’ I can tell you 1000 percent the man who did that was Gerry Matalon,” said Hill.
Smith, however, countered this by claiming that Champion was never going to convince Skip Bayless to give her a job.
“It was not only up to me to decide if Cari Champion would be on ‘First Take,’ it was up to me to convince Skip because he had the ultimate say. Cari Champion wasn’t going to convince Skip. You weren’t going to convince Skip, Jemele,” Smith stated on X.
As enlightening as it has been to know about ESPN’s hiring systems, it doesn’t seem like the curtains have completely come down on this saga. So heat your coffee and follow this space for more.
