Stephen A. Smith and Jason Whitlock have embarked on the latest saga in their ongoing media feud, primarily centered around Smith’s time at Winston-Salem State. Whitlock has long been skeptical of Smith's HBCU story and presented his case on the Cam Newton-led 4th & 1 Podcast.
“I've done the homework on Stephen A. He's fraudulent. He's lying about his college basketball career. He's admitted he's lying about his college basketball career. If I sat in the media space for 20 years telling everybody I played for Big House Gaines and I got a full-ride scholarship after knocking down 17 straight three-pointers in a scrimmage on a Sunday…anyone familiar with HBCUs, anyone familiar with Winston-Salem State and how little money Winston-Salem State has and had back then, they're not giving out scholarships on the spot to anybody. It's all a lie.”
Whitlock also insinuated that Smith is lying about his teammates on the Winston-Salem State squad, even going as far to allege that someone is impersonating one of those teammates to aid Smith's credibility.
“And he runs around with these former teammates… some dude named Gary Stevens… The Gary Stevens that Stephen A. runs around with is some 5-foot-9 midget who played basketball up in New York for some school called Old Westbury. They're running around taking flights and posting Instagram photos saying ‘Yeah, we’re Winston-Salem State teammates.' It's all a lie. It's fraudulent.”
Smith, never one to back down from an on-air confrontation, responded to Whitlock's assertions about his life story, calling him several pejorative names and boasting about his career standing in the media over Whitlock. But, he also responded to several portions of Whitlock's accusations.
He said of the practice in which he hit 17-straight three pointers, “He called a timeout. He said, ‘Wait a minute, ain't you supposed to know how to shoot the ball?' I said, ‘Yes, sir.' He said, ‘Then god damn it, shoot the ball.' And I went out there and I hit 17 straight three-pointers…I repeatedly stated: I never did it before, and I never pulled it off since. That one day, God was watching.”
Smith also spoke about his direct issue with Whitlock outside of personal slights: how he's allegedly treated other black journalists in the industry.
“Here’s why [I am addressing him]: because of what he has systematically tried to do to Black people in this industry. It’s personal on a whole multitude of levels.”
Later on, Smith said, “That’s acting on behalf of somebody evil and disgusting and jealous who systematically goes about the business of trying to diminish and lower Black people in our business because they’re better than you.”
He then directly addressed Whitlock's standing in the industry juxtaposed to his own success.
“You can’t f*** with me, Jay. Not even a little bit. There’s levels to this, and your ass is smaller than a cockroach compared to me. You’re nothing…You’ve lost. I’m better than you. The public says it, everybody knows it.”
