ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith fires back on criticism of sports debate TV: ‘You ain’t innocent’

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith got into a back-and-forth with Dan Le Batard last week while on Le Batard’s “South Beach Sessions” podcast. 

When discussing Fox Sports personality Skip Bayless, Smith’s former co-host at ESPN, Le Batard said he hated “what you two have done to sports television.”

Le Batard said he was referencing all the “imitators” who have come after Smith and Bayless who don’t have the “journalism credentials.” 

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Smith, who has perfected the debate-style sports show, pushed back, pointing to his long career as a journalist while saying Le Batard should not be one to talk. 

“You can say that all you want to,” Smith responded. “I would say, ‘Who the hell are you to sit up there and say me and him?’ What about you? Where the hell were you? Living under a rock? Teaching at Miami U? You were part of it, too. You ain’t innocent.

“Those people who don’t have a journalism background, who don’t exercise journalistic ethics and beyond, how are we responsible for that when our background is based on that? Skip Bayless was a journalist for decades. I was a journalist for decades. We come on television and those ethics are applicable. The fact of the matter is when I take a position, it’s the same kind of position I would take writing a column. The difference is, instead of writing 800 words and being limited to that space, I get to talk for a few minutes on each subject.” 

On Monday, Smith continued the conversation on his “Know Mercy” podcast while making sure to note he was not upset with Le Batard, who remains a friend. 

“It is amazing to me how people will speak as if I’ve had a negative impact on an industry they profit off of,” Smith said. “Dan Le Batard wrote for the Miami Herald for 26 years — 1990-2016. Ask Dan Le Batard how much money he made writing for the Miami Herald compared to how much money he made on ESPN. How much money he made doing ‘Highly Questionable.’ How much money he made doing the ‘Dan Le Batard Show.’ How much money he is making doing ‘South Street Sessions.’”

Smith has become the leading personality at ESPN as the host of “First Take,” which airs weekday mornings. 

Prior to his days as a TV host, Smith spent many years as a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Daily News.