During the Rice discussion, Smith alluded to women in abuse cases when he said, “Let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong action … we got to also make sure that you can do your part to do whatever you can do to make, to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Shortly after Smith’s remarks, colleague Michelle Beadle responded on Twitter that “I was just forced to watch this morning’s First Take. A) I’ll never feel clean again B) I’m not aware that I can provoke my own beating.”
Beadle, host of ESPN2’s “SportsNation,” continued with a series of tweets. She said that “Violence isn’t the victim’s issue. It’s the abuser’s. To insinuate otherwise is irresponsible and disgusting.”
Smith, during his apology, said it wasn’t his intention to say that women could be responsible for their own abuse. “It was not what I was trying to say,” he said. “Yet the failure to clearly articulate something different lies squarely on my shoulder.”
However, despite the fallout, the New York Daily News reports Smith just landed a new gig on SiriusXM. The site reports:
Stephen A. Smith will soon leave ESPN-98.7 FM and take his verbal stylings to SXM’s “MDR,” where he will host his own show, according to satellite radio sources. Smith currently co-hosts a 1 p.m.-3 p.m. program with Ryan Ruocco on 98.7.
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