Stephen A. Smith teased that the latest edition of his podcast would wade into waters he’s tried to avoid: His apparent long-standing beef with Jason Whitlock, the former ESPN columnist and personality who currently hosts a show for Blaze Media. As Smith claims, while he’s tried to avoid mentioning Whitlock directly for a decade or so, he’s felt compelled to say something in the aftermath of comments that Whitlock made questioning if Smith wrote his own autobiography.
Stephen A. Smith responds to allegations that he didn't actually write his book.
"I can assure you so help me God, I wrote my book. It's my memoir. It's my life story." pic.twitter.com/J2xQb7jryV
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 9, 2024
Well, the podcast finally dropped, and Smith really decides to explore the space that this medium provides. The full video is at the top of this post, and Smith spends essentially the final 45 minutes of his pod on the subject.
“Jason Whitlock,” Smith said at the 14:29 mark. “I said that name. It’s not a name I’ve uttered. I normally don’t do that. But it’s necessary to do now. I’ve had enough of that fat bastard, that piece of sh*t, and I wanna make sure that before I go to break, I want anyone out there who watches me, anyone out there who knows me, anyone out there — no matter what you think of me — I want you to remember, I never talk about him. I never talk about my colleagues. I don’t do that. This is a first. But it’s necessary.”
Smith continued to tease this, saying he called his pastor asking for forgiveness “because he’s not gonna recognize the person he’s about to hear,” and gave his bosses a heads up about what he was about to do.
“My sisters, my nieces and nephews, my boys in the industry, everybody that I could reach out to in time has been warned,” Smith said. “It’s time for me to address this, I’m only gonna do it once. Because this bastard is worth less than a damn cockroach. He wanted my attention, he’s got it.”
Smith then went to break before coming back and discussing all of this, and well, it’s a lot. You can jump right to the 18:35 mark and go from there.