ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith was a recent guest on “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” where the conversation ranged through Smith’s career, what it’s like working at ESPN, and creating content in the social media era. Smith said the MVP debate between his colleagues Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick went too far. That’s rich coming from Smith, whose whole brand is being a provocateur and going too far.
Can Sports Debate Go Too Far?
“First of all, it can go too far,” Smith admitted. “Secondly, in that particular show, it did go too far. I thought both of them were wrong to a degree, in terms of how far it went. Everybody I’ve brought on the show, this is what I demand from them. Be your true authentic self. Don’t come on here with no phony s**t. Don’t have me, or our audience looking at you and thinking you’re faking something or you’re saying something for just effect. You need to feel it.”
“Here’s where it gets tricky though,” Smith continued. “What happens is sometimes in the heat of a debate you’re saying something and then you catch yourself and you’re like, ‘Oh s**t, what did I just say?'”
The debate topic was NBA MVP and Perk’s assertion that a largely white media is biased against Black players. The debate centered on Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. Perk was an Embiid backer all year. For what it’s worth, Embiid won the award but flamed out in the conference semis, while Jokic led the Nuggets to their first NBA championship and won Finals MVP.
Mentioning Race Is Like Throwing Gasoline On A Fire
Whenever race is brought up it is a hot-button issue that is sure to drive social media engagement, which is what talking heads are incentivized to do. The ESPN producers want viral clips. Race in the MVP debate was the story for nearly two weeks. Mission accomplished.
Saying things to get a rise out of people and to cause controversy is what Smith gets paid handsomely to do. He and Skip Bayless are the architects of “hot take” culture. It’s slightly hypocritical that Smith would say this conversation went too far.
Maybe Perkins actually feels like some white players are propped up too much. The league’s voters have all but admitted they messed up giving Steve Nash back-to-back MVPs in 2005 and 2006.
Regardless, Perk knew when he made that comment, it would set off a firestorm and be content fodder for at least a few live shows.
