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Stephen A. Smith has never been one to mince words when it comes to topics on his ESPN show, First Take. Smith has made a living entertaining and providing commentary in a unique way that draws in the viewer, for better or for worse.
On Monday, Stephen A. Smith was discussing the emergence of Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani. When discussing Ohtani becoming the face of baseball, Stephen A. made some wildly awful comments about how it might be bad for baseball. Since those comments, he's apologized via Twitter and now on Tuesday, he's apologized on First Take as well.
Stephen A. Smith begins FIRST TAKE by apologizing for his remarks about Shohei Ohtani: pic.twitter.com/eDGPWOXWKi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 13, 2021
Sparking all of this were the comments Stephen A. Smith made on Monday regarding Ohtani becoming the face of baseball.
“But the fact that you got a foreign player that doesn’t speak English, that needs an interpreter … believe it or not, I think contributes to harming the game in some degree when that’s your box office appeal. It needs to be somebody like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, those guys. And unfortunately, at this moment in time, that’s not the case.”
“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.”
The comments from Stephen A. Smith were immediately met with confusion and anger and rightfully so. The ESPN host took to Twitter to apologize initially before facing the camera on Tuesday to reiterate how sorry he is.
