Monday was not a good day for Stephen A. Smith, as the highly-paid and highly-visible ESPN personality put his foot in his mouth twice.
Smith generated controversy with his take that Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani might not be suited to be the face of baseball because he speaks through an interpreter. The First Take star would eventually apologize for his comments.
“Let me apologize right now,” Smith wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. “As I’m watching things unfold, let me say that I never intended to offend any community, particularly the Asian Community – and especially SHOHEI Ohtani, himself. As an African-American, keenly aware of the damage stereotyping has done to many in this country, it should’ve elevated my sensitivities even more. Based on my words, I failed in that regard and it’s on me, and me alone. Ohtani is one of the brightest stars in all of sports. He is making a difference as it pertains to inclusiveness and leadership. I should have embraced that in my comments. Instead, I screwed up.”
That wasn’t Smith’s only issue today, though. He also drew criticism for being dismissive and disrespectful of the Nigeria men’s basketball team when discussing their shocking win over USA men’s basketball on Saturday.
It wasn’t just the general public that called Smith out either. Some of his ESPN colleagues either directly or indirectly expressed their disapproval.
As someone who has seen Mr. Smith’s daily grind, I have so much respect for my ESPN fam…
But as a proud Nigerian-American, whose name gets mispronounced daily, we HAVE to do better.
𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙮𝙚 means God gives. Our names have beautiful meaning & should be celebrated!🙏🏿 https://t.co/fvkaDHBYKF
— Chiney Ogwumike (@chiney) July 12, 2021
I’ll be on First Take tomorrow morning to talk about Shohei Ohtani.
I’ve got some things to say.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 12, 2021
Wish the bosses had some things to say…..
— Nicole Briscoe (@RB_Mrs) July 12, 2021
Telling anyone — let alone a generational, one-in-a-lifetime baseball talent who’s currently doing something completely unprecedented — to just “learn English” completely underestimates and devalues the difficulty of immigrating to the United States
— Joon 이준엽 (@joonlee) July 12, 2021
Perhaps we shouldn’t ask the most multitalented player in recorded baseball history to cut up lil morsels of English soundbites and make airplane noises while spoonfeeding them to us too
— Pablo S. Torre (@PabloTorre) July 12, 2021
reminder: speaking english is not a requirement to be a tremendous anything, nevermind baseball player
— clean tone (@clintonyates) July 12, 2021
.@stephenasmith is a good man & this show is good entertainment but if I were @NigeriaBasket or any international hoops fans, I would think this was disrespectful. Especially if you sat court side Saturday night. 😉🏀 https://t.co/aKkRvQNZnt
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) July 12, 2021
Give the guy a break. He’s already apologized once today. He’ll figure it out. https://t.co/5cVyHtmWk0
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) July 13, 2021
In addition to apologizing on Twitter, Smith said he will address his Ohtani comments on First Take tomorrow. Wonder if he’ll have anything to say about Nigeria as well.
Tune in and find out.
The post ESPN Employees React To Stephen A’s Controversial Comments appeared first on The Spun.
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