We’re just days removed from finding out that ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, star of First Take and a ubiquitous presence across the network, makes $12 million per year. Today he really stepped in it, making some pretty racist statements about both Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani, and the Nigerian basketball team after their shocking upset of Team USA.
On First Take today, Smith said that Ohtani was not an effective face of baseball, because he does not speak English. Nevermind the fact that he’s doing things that no one since Babe Ruth has, something Smith readily acknowledges.
“…But when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube, or to the ballpark, to actually watch you, okay, I don’t think it helps that the No. 1 face is a dude that needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he’s saying,” Smith said.
Given the ongoing rise in violence against Asian-Americans, the timing is even worse here. Ohtani has injected some serious life into the game this year, as an All-Star level pitcher who could wind up with 50-60 home runs as a batter. He’s had no issue becoming the face of the game. Many around sports are calling for Smith, whose controversial statements usually manage to remain inside the lines of the sports he discusses, to issue a full apology for his statement.
I hope Stephen A and ESPN does something beyond a token boilerplate apology here.
The Ohtani story if objectively awesome and bringing a lot of interest to a sport thirsty for attention.
Stephen A’s objection that it’s not good because Ohtani is asian guy is just simply trash https://t.co/kK2QPepx91
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) July 12, 2021
Stephen A has fired off 5 tweets in the last 10 minutes. You’d figure at least one of them would be an apology about his Ohtani comments.
— John Healy (@jphealy) July 12, 2021
Others, including a former Stephen A. Smith colleague, Keith Olbermann, believes that Smith should be suspended for the comments.
I mean, imagine something even vaguely like this, said about any black athlete or female athlete or even an athlete who doesn’t speak to the media, by anybody else. The commentator would have been fired by now.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) July 12, 2021
There’s a very significant difference between the really crappy takes that provide fuel for the current sports TV media ecosystem (e.g. whatever Perkins or Pierce say), and what Stephen A spewed about Ohtani. That was disgusting and should lead to action from ESPN, imo.
— 18 Million Over The Tweet Cap (@AndyGlockner) July 12, 2021
To make matters worse, this wasn’t even the only controversial take from Smith about foreign athletes from today’s First Take. After Team USA’s exhibition loss to Nigeria, Smith spent time mocking the Nigerian players’ names, a truly disrespectful showing towards a team that just had an incredible effort over the weekend.
A one minute clip with no basketball analysis and pure disrespect to the names of our culture.
Do better please @stephenasmith. This is low, even for you. https://t.co/H6m69KCwL2
— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) July 12, 2021
@stephenasmith it’s appalling as a journalist for you not to be able to pronounce names, but it’s shameful as a Black man for you not to respect Nigeria enough to pronounce the names correctly. I’m praying heavy for you. @espn we demand an apology! https://t.co/BBSKVgyF2G
— Savant Moore (@savantmoore) July 12, 2021
Smith has already attempted to clarify his Ohtani comments, but he certainly did not make an effort to apologize about either issue. We’ll see if that comes, or if ESPN tried to wait out this situation.
The post Stephen A. Smith Being Called On To Make Serious Apology After Shohei Ohtani Take appeared first on The Spun.
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