Stephen A. Smith Accuses His Haters Of Being 'Jealous'

Few people in sports media, if any, have more haters in 2026 than Stephen A. Smith.

Smith brings a lot of it on himself, of course. The ESPN “First Take” star is known for his hot takes, unapologetic debate style and relentless work ethic. If you’re turning on ESPN in 2026, odds are you’re going to run into something said by Smith.

And while Smith has plenty of fans – millions tune in to watch him each week – he has plenty of haters, too.

But are Smith’s haters just “jealous” of his success? He believes that to be the case most of the time, anyway.

Smith appeared on Jemele Hill and Cari Champion’s podcast this week. He discussed the “jealousy” aspect.

While Hill and Champion both admitted to not being jealous of Smith, the later claimed that he believes many of his haters are.

“Certain folks feeling jealous, that was reserved for the men.. just look at the things they say,” he said.

Smith certainly does have some jealous haters, but for a lot of fans, they just have issues with the things that he has to say. NFL fans don’t love his predictions – especially Cowboys fans – and NBA fans have problems with his criticism of LeBron James.

Everyone would love to make the millions that Smith does, and everyone would love to get the sports opportunities that he does, but disagreeing with his sports takes or criticizing his influence on sports media is not an automatic indication of jealousy.