Stephen A. Smith has made a few enemies along the way, but ESPN's Michael Wilbon isn't one of them.
Smith has received plenty of criticism over the years for firing off some hot takes on "First Take." He's even been labeled "the face of clickbait media" by Philadelphia 76ers star Jaylen Brown.
"Tell this [expletive] to retire, because he’s the face of clickbait media," Brown said. "And maybe with his retirement, we could spark a movement to get the rest of these [expletive] out of here. Or to also have some type of, forget journalistic integrity, actual integrity in order to hold themselves accountable to the [expletive] takes they put out with no basis, no bias, no information. Just narrative. Just for the sake of just pushing a weak narrative. Just purely out of that."
During an appearance on "The Awful Announcing Podcast" this week, Wilbon defended Smith and referred to him as one-man show.
"Stop, you’re not a journalist anymore. You’re not doing what you did at the Philly Inquirer. Stop, dude. I know what you did there because I was shoulder to shoulder with you at press row and in press boxes and at practice," Wilbon said, via Awful Announcing. "Stephen A. is a show. He knows it. He wants to be the show, and he’s doing a damn good job at it. That’s what he wants to be. He has now spawned a whole generation of people who want to be the show. Good for Stephen A.; he knows that."
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Stephen A. Smith is "the guy" at ESPN.
A few weeks ago, ESPN laid off Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, Karl Ravech and a few other notable broadcasters. Smith expressed his displeasure with the network on his self-titled YouTube show.
“Ryan Clark, someone I consider to be arguably the best NFL analyst in America, is no longer with ESPN,” Smith said. “I can’t even tell y’all how much that hurts. He’s a man, so he’ll handle it the way men do. But I’m going to miss him, and I’m not happy about this decision one bit. The bosses know I’m not happy about this decision. I’ve made that very, very clear."
Smith, on the other hand, isn't going anywhere anytime soon. He's currently on a five-year extension worth up to $21 million per year.
