Shaq Prank-Called Stephen A. Smith’s Radio Show To Yell At Him About The Cowboys


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The Cowboys lost on Sunday to the Rams in Los Angeles in the Divisional Round to see another postseason run end before reaching a conference title game.

Dallas’ fan base is massive, so there were plenty of fans upset, but because they are the NFL’s biggest brand name they have plenty of people that root against them who were thrilled to see the Cowboys knocked out of the playoffs early once again. There may be no one that is prouder of being a Cowboys hater than Stephen A. Smith, as he fully embraces his role as the ultimate heel to Cowboys nation.

Smith has done multiple live shows for First Take from Dallas in recent years, arriving wearing a black cowboy hat and some shirt or jersey to troll Cowboys fans in attendance and beg them for their hate. On Monday, Smith was in New York but still made sure to fully celebrate Dallas’ loss and try to get under the skin of frustrated Cowboys fans by donning his black hat and breaking out a cigar during his radio show, which is simulcast on ESPN News.

Smith called for the Cowboys to part ways with coach Jason Garrett and after his soliloquy on how bad the Cowboys are, he opened up the phone lines to allow callers to come back at him. At that point, Shaq decided to call in posing as “Tex Johnson” and mess with Stephen A. a bit, with Smith sensing early something was up but being unable to quite figure it out what was happening for a bit.

The skeptic in me feels like this was planned, but it’s also something that I would 100 percent believe Shaq would do, so we’ll take it at face value. Smith’s initial “Who is this?” seems like he could sense it was Shaq — his voice, even when trying to do an accent, is very distinct — but couldn’t put his finger on it. Eventually he figures it out and Shaq is unable to keep himself from laughing at his success in messing with Stephen A., who at that point is trying to figure out when Shaq became a Cowboys fan, which is a legitimate question.