The back and forth between ESPN personality and former newspaper writer and former ESPN personality/writer Jason Whitlock is getting heated.
Smith blasted Whitlock on the “Stephen A. Smith Show” podcast Wednesday in response to Whitlock questioning the accuracy of Smith’s memoir, “Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes” on his Blaze network program and in a column.
After Smith’s show, Whitlock responded on X. “I knew Stephen A was limited. I didn’t know he was this limited. I’m starting to feel sorry for him. I beat up a baby seal.”
Whitlock then doubled down on his claims that Smith’s memoir is “full of fabrications.”
This was after Smith, who is one of the highest-paid sports TV personalities, spent most of his show tearing down Whitlock.
Stephen A. Smith unloads on Jason Whitlock in 45-minute rant
For most of Smith’s show, he attacked Whitlock. (He spent a small portion defending the Pat McAfee show and even Aaron Rodgers, despite saying he disagreed with Rodgers’ comments that didn’t relate to sports). Before the rant, he gave his thoughts on Whitlock as a person.
“He has a show on Blaze TV and he is the guy I directly allude to as “That fat bastard,'” Smith said. “He’s a no-good individual, probably the worst individual I have ever had the displeasure of being associated with in any capacity.”
He prefaced his rant on Whitlock by saying: “I even took the Liberty of calling my pastor to apologize in advance for the things I’m going to say about that no-good bastard.”
Smith started the rant by calling Whitlock a “piece of sh-t.” And that he was only going to address Whitlock once because “he’s worse than a cockroach.” Smith said “he wanted my attention, he’s got it.”
He said that getting responses from athletes or people in the sports industry is expected, when you’re a commentator.
“As a black man sitting in this seat, the level of vitriol that I have to absorb is something that I understand 99.9% of the time,” Smith said. “If you’re a former player and you want to crucify me, that’s fine. If you’re somebody who was involved in a public incident that I had speak on, or you’re the wife or a former girlfriend of a former player, I get it. You’re a modern-day athlete and you don’t like my evaluation of what has transpired before my very eyes or what I’m witnessing, that’s cool. But I swear to you, on everything that I love, it’s not personal.”
Smith went on to say that he has never lied to the public about what he has written or said. He also said he has never attacked his colleagues.
He closed his rant by attacking Whitlock, who is a right-wing commentator, about his political views and how those views have caused issues everywhere Whitlock has worked in the past.
“You see what he does is, he’s the one that puts himself in front of white folks. The white folks, not all white folks, not most white folks, but the white folks that dare we say may have a problem with black folks. He says ‘I’m your man.’ That’s what he does. You think I’m lying? Ask ESPN. Ask Fox. Ask the Kansas City Star. Ask them all,” Smith said. Then he added, “I could not imagine, as a black man, knowing our history, anything worse than a white supremacist. That is until Jason Whitlock came along. He’s worse than them. He is the worst, most despicable, lying, no-good, fat-ass human being I have ever known in my life.”
What made Stephen A. Smith so angry with Jason Whitlock?
What set Smith off was a column and podcast commentary from Whitlock about Smith’s book that portrayed Smith as being dishonest in describing his life and experiences.
“Stephen A. Smith is the Kevin Hart of the sports media,” Whitlock wrote. “Smith is a plant. Disney and ESPN installed Smith at the top of sports media because his inadequacies as a journalist make him easy to control.”
Whitlock wrote that “Last year, I publicly feuded with Smith, the host of ESPN’s “First Take” program. He repeatedly referred to me as “fat bastard.” The barbs tickled me. They also made me take an even deeper interest in how someone with such limited journalistic skills became the face of the worldwide leader in sports. Smith released a memoir in 2023 called ‘Straight Shooter.’ I read it. It’s farcical.”
Whitlock said that Smith is lying in his book when he said he was offered a basketball scholarship to Winston-Salem, that he lied about how much basketball he played in high school. Whitlock said, “without attribution, that Smith lied about connections”The face of ESPN wrote a memoir, and I can’t find a legitimate review of it from any major or small publication.”