ESPN's Stephen A. Smith had a Very Bad Take about Los Angeles Angeles phenom Shohei Ohtani.
Hours before Ohtani takes part in the Home Run Derby, the “First Take” commentator criticized the Japanese two-way star for, in his opinion, not learning English and thereby, not capitalizing on an opportunity to grow the game as a face of the sport.
“But when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube or to the ballpark to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the number one face is a dude that needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he’s saying.”
(Personally, I'm curious how many languages Stephen A. can spew xenophobic takes in).
You can watch the full segment below, which is quite horrendous.
Stephen A Smith saying that Shohei Ohtani, responsible for the 10 highest viewed regular season games this year and what will likely be the most watched HRD ever, shouldn’t be considered a face of baseball because he needs an interpreter. Kindly piss off
— Brian Schlosser (@brian_slosh) July 12, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XZ2i4Zsx6Q
Not surprisingly, folks on Twitter and within sports media circles blasted Stephen A. for his ignorant remarks.
Ohtani is set to take part in the Derby at Coors Field, and will make history by becoming the first player to start and bat leadoff in the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday.
Ohtani is the first player in a century to find consistent success as a pitcher and hitter in the big leagues. Not only has Ohtani excelled on both sides of the ball — he's been mind-blowingly electric.
Ohtani leads the majors with 33 homers (already the MLB single-season record for a Japanese-born player), and he barrels them up better than anybody. The 27-year old — who can blaze on the basepaths, too — has a 3.49 ERA in 13 starts.
463 feet, 116.5 MPH 😱
Shohei Ohtani is just the 6th player to hit a homer to the 3rd deck at T-Mobile Park.
(MLB x @GoogleCloud) pic.twitter.com/4zNPqXnln5
— MLB (@MLB) July 10, 2021
Oh, and here's Ohtani charmingly delivering a speech in English:
Shohei Ohtani made an entire speech in front of a live audience in only English in 2019. pic.twitter.com/Kmes1vzAjW
— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) July 12, 2021
Needless to say: Shohei is deeply awesome. Ohtani to the moon.
SHO MY 💣
470 FEET FOR OHTANI
(via @BallySportWest) pic.twitter.com/HCubKJjiEI
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 9, 2021
UPDATE: On Monday afternoon, Smith posted a video clarifying his remarks, claiming he was speaking on the marketability of baseball stars in the United States, where the viewership tends to skew older.
On my earlier comments about Ohtani pic.twitter.com/FM0vnDDXBB
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 12, 2021
UPDATE: A few hours later, Stephen A. apologized once again:
I'm sincerely sorry. pic.twitter.com/pANjWTrD4X
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 12, 2021
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