Sports anchor Stephen A. Smith allegedly took some shots at fellow anchor Jason Whitlock, apparently calling him “a fat bastard,” Daily Mail reported.
On an episode of his YouTube show, The Stephen A. Smith Show, the First Take host never mentioned Whitlock by name, but fans speculated that’s who he was referring to.
“There’s one particular person who will remain nameless but I will not deny it – I think he is a fat, no-good b***ard who I despise to the core,” Smith said. Before things got rocky, Smith clarified that he doesn’t wish harm on him. “But it doesn’t mean that I wish him harm,” he continued. “It is not Marcellus Wiley that I am talking about. It ain’t hard to figure out who I am talking about.”
Whitlock took some recent jabs at Smith’s new co-host, Shannon Sharpe, on his show, Fearless With Jason Whitlock, telling him stop being “a woman” as when he was speaking out about his stunning exit from rival show, Undisputed, with Skip Bayless.
The outspoken sports commentator said that Bayless didn’t “respect him.”
“‘Respect, that’s a female emotion, a female energy. That’s why Aretha Franklin sang about it,” Whitlock replied. “As a man, regardless of color, you are supposed to be about winning the respect of God.”
His comments come after former NFL player and podcast host Marcellus Wiley spoke about Smith in September 2023, accusing him of being the reason Smith’s former co-host, Max Kellerman, was pushed out at First Take. According to The New York Post, Wiley also alleged the reason it happened was because Kellerman was “smarter” than Smith.
Smith had the chance to respond as a guest on The Breakfast Club when host, Charlamagne Tha God, asked him abut it.
“Here’s my only issue: for a black man to stand up there and say another black man is scared of somebody’s intellect, come on, bro. That’s just a line you’re crossing,” Smith said. “I have nothing to say other than that. That’s sad that he would go that route. I guess he’s going to get attention because everybody watches The Breakfast Club every chance we get and you’re going to see us talk about it.”
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