Stephen A. Smith is one of the faces of ESPN. He is seemingly on all the time — from his daily show “First Take” to “SportsCenter” to the network’s coverage of, among other things, the NBA.
He can be smart, loud, self-assured, fearless, funny and entertaining. All those things make Smith among the most popular and polarizing personalities on ESPN. And while Smith has his haters, I find him enjoyable to watch.
But among the pitfalls of being on the air constantly and feeling the pressure to be provocative and relevant — and earn every dollar of a reported $12 million salary — is that sometimes your “hot take” will get you burned. On Monday morning’s “First Take,” Smith’s comments about baseball star Shohei Ohtani drew more than a difference of opinion. They crossed a line and, ultimately, forced Smith to apologize Monday evening.
So what did Smith say?
With the Major League Baseball All-Star Game set for tonight, Ohtani is the featured star because of his rare ability to both hit and pitch — something that draws comparisons to the legendary Babe Ruth. But Smith questioned whether Ohtani being the game’s marquee player is actually good for baseball.
“Not to me,” Smith said as he began his commentary.
Smith raved about Ohtani’s talent, but said Ohtani, who is from Japan, might not be good for the game because he typically doesn’t speak English when doing press conferences or interviews. He usually uses a translator.
“I understand that baseball is an international sport itself in terms of participation,” Smith said. “But when you talk about an audience, gravitating to the tube, or to the ballpark, 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 … in this country!”
Smith didn’t stop there. He took it further by suggesting Ohtani might be bad for baseball.
“The fact that you got a foreign player that doesn’t speak English,” Smith said, “that needs an interpreter, believe it or not, I think contributes to harming the game to some degree, when that’s your box-office appeal.”
He then compared baseball to other sports, saying, “In other sports like basketball, you notice Dirk Nowitzki was German and Manu Ginóbili and others were from other places, and guess what … they spoke fluent English. You understood what they were saying when somebody was interviewing them. They didn’t need an interpreter. It goes a long way. For some reason with Major League Baseball, you’ve got these guys that need those interpreters and I think that compromises the ability for them to ingratiate themselves with the American public, which is what we’re really talking about.”
At first, when early partial clips of the segment started trending on Twitter, I wanted to be careful not to take Smith’s comments out of context.
What exactly was he saying?
Was he saying that Americans weren’t going to embrace someone who doesn’t speak English? Was he making a commentary — and perhaps even being critical — about those who are xenophobic? Was he actually saying the problem was with small-minded Americans?
Whatever his point was, he badly bungled the delivery — and the message. He came off as the guy telling foreign players to “speak English” if they want to be accepted and truly represent a sports league in the U.S. And that is simply unacceptable.
The social media backlash was swift and strong enough that Smith took to Twitter to explain his comments. As someone who was willing to give Smith the benefit of the doubt, I watched his response and was more confused than before his explanation. He didn’t apologize for or even really clarify his comments. He simply repeated them and, in doing so, doubled down on what he said.
He closed by saying, “But in the United States, all I was saying is that when you’re a superstar, if you can speak the English language, then guess what? That’s going to make it that much easier and less challenging to promote the sport. That’s all I was saying about anybody.”
It did sound as if Smith was saying that Ohtani’s talent and personality aren’t good enough, that he needs to learn English — for his good and the good of baseball.
The Sporting News’ Joe Rivera wrote, “It’s shameful that anyone considers this a problem.” Deadspin’s Jon Helmkamp wrote, “Smith’s rhetoric is overtly racist, and came at a time where hate crimes against Asian-Americans are rampant. It is entirely unacceptable and irresponsible. This xenophobic language — claiming the face of baseball, by default, must be a white player — is dangerous.”
By Monday evening, Smith, perhaps seeing the overwhelmingly critical reaction to his comments, returned to Twitter and, this time, apologized.
In a statement, Smith said, “Let me apologize right now.”
Smith said he never intended to offend any community, especially the Asian community and Ohtani himself.
He wrote, “As an African-American, keenly aware of the damage stereotyping has done to many in this country, it should’ve elevated my sensitivities even more. Based on my words, I failed in that regard and it’s on me, and me alone!”
Smith went on to praise Ohtani again and added that he “screwed up.”
“In this day and age,” Smith wrote, “with all the violence being perpetrated against the Asian Community, my comments — albeit unintentional — were clearly insensitive and regrettable. There’s simply no other way to put it.”
Smith said he was sorry again and hinted that he will address the matter on this morning’s “First Take.” That’s a good step because this requires more explanation.
Fact-checking the former president
Donald Trump’s off-the-rails Sunday interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, which I wrote about in Monday’s newsletter, continues to have aftershocks.
And since Bartiromo couldn’t be bothered to fact-check the former president, CNN did. This clip shows Brianna Keilar and John Berman flagging 12 lies just about the Jan. 6 insurrection alone that Trump said during the interview with Bartiromo. This doesn’t even include all the other lies Trump said in the interview, including pushing false claims of a rigged election.
Meanwhile, in a piece for The Washington Post, media critic Erik Wemple brilliantly dissects Bartiromo’s role in the interview with “Maria Bartiromo’s top 10 fails.”
Wemple writes, “After six years of protracted network sycophancy, there should be little that’s shocking about a top Fox Newser laying out the welcome mat for Trump’s mendacity. Yet somehow there is.”
Castro joins NBC News
