Stephen A. Smith sent a message to everybody who was upset that he had Clay Travis on his podcast.
Smith hosted the OutKick founder on his Audacy “Know Mercy” podcast earlier this week, and the two opinionists had a wide-ranging conversation that included their thoughts on cancel culture and whether or not Donald Trump would be the likeliest Republican candidate to defeat Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
There was some backlash on social media and sports blogs to the idea that Smith, an ESPN talent, “platformed” Travis, who has been persistently critical of ESPN as a company and personally mocked a number of on-air talents who work there for skewing too “woke.”
“I watched the reaction to my conversation with Clay Travis, obviously a successor to Rush Limbaugh on his radio show. You’ve got a lot of people writing stories and alluding to problems because I sat down and had a conversation.”
After Smith hosted Travis, The Big Lead editor-in-chief Kyle Koster tweeted, “Small sample size but Stephen A. Smith’s latest choice for a podcast guest has not been a huge hit internally.”
Ben Koo, the owner and editor-in-chief of the sports media website Awful Announcing, quote-tweeted Koster.
“Stephen A has largely been paid and been playing by his own rules,” Koo wrote. “ESPN folks have long understood and accepted this. His interview yesterday with ESPN’s biggest antagonist has had a major impact on how he’s seen internally. ‘Bad teammate’ is the kindest of what I’ve heard.”
Smith was up in arms over the idea that people had an issue with his amplifying a guest whose political commentary is polarizing.
“These are the people who are a problem,” Smith continued. “I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Clay Travis. He has his opinions. I have mine. He expressed them cogently with clarity. You can agree or disagree. I have my opinions. That’s what makes the world goes round. That’s what ‘Know Mercy’ is about and that’s what the hell it’s gonna stay about.
“Let me be very, very clear: I talk to everybody. I don’t agree with a lot of people or a lot of things that people say. I don’t believe that’s a reason to hate them, any more than I want that to be a reason for them to hate me.
“Listen to what I have to say. If my points are valid, man up or woman up, and admit it. If it’s still wrong and you believe it in your heart, then say so! We move on! Because that’s what I’m gonna do.”
Travis directly mocked Koo for his tweet about the matter.
“Either name your ‘sources’ or quit whining,” Travis tweeted. “People loved the @stephenasmith and me podcast. That’s what has actually upset the woke, the conversation was so well received no one has even uttered a public word of negativity. So now we have to whisper about anonymous people whose feelings were hurt. So predictable.”
Disclosure: The author of this story previously worked at both The Big Lead and OutKick.