After recent layoffs at ESPN left several on-air personalities without jobs, host Stephen A. Smith has responded to “haters” who’ve been asking why he still has a job.
The NBA analyst shared a message for his detractors during an episode of his weekday morning sports program, The Stephen A. Smith Show, on Monday (July 3). “Let me address something,” Smith began. “To some of the haters out there about me, y’all can kiss my ass. Twice.”
“I’m talking directly to the people in the industry who sat up there and said ‘Why isn’t Stephen A. gone?’ Ladies and gentlemen, we got a few people here at ESPN getting paid more than me,” he continued. “They don’t have the number one show, the top ratings. They don’t generate more revenue. How come y’all don’t bring their names up? And by the way, none of them are Black.”
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He went on to ask, “How come you don’t bring their names up? I wonder why? I’m talking to those folks, the critics in the media, or the wannabe media with the blogosphere and websites that never went through the terrain of being members, official members, of the fourth estate. I’m talking about them. How come y’all don’t bring them up?”
“But me, who’s been number one, who’s got the top-rated show. Who, by the way, is an executive producer on that top-rated show. My name comes up,” he added.
Smith admitted, however, that his haters might get their wish. “My name might come up sometime in the near future for all I know,” he shared. “Others have been bought out, [it’s] not beyond the realms of comprehension that I could be next.”
The sports analyst’s comments came just days after ESPN let go of roughly 20 on-air personalities. The layoffs are part of The Walt Disney Co.’s broader cost-savings plan, announced in February, which will see the network’s patent company moving forward with its goal to eliminate 7,000 jobs this year.
Watch Stephen A. Smith’s comments below.
