When Molly Qerim left ESPN’s First Take – allegedly – because Stephen A. Smith and station executives lowballed her, her fans waited anxiously to see where she would land next. That was back in late September, and the popular co-host and mediator of sports talk television’s most popular debate show still hasn’t announced any future plans since abruptly departing without as much as an on-air goodbye
Former ‘First Take’ Co-Host Molly Qerim Pops Out With Bathing Suit In Abu Dhabi
In the meantime, the 41-year-old Qerim seems to be enjoying life and still spending that ESPN money that her pride forced her to walk away from, dropping a sexy vacation fit from a beach in Abu Dhabi.
In her post, she tagged #VisitAbuDhabi and #MELTLive, which is an exclusive, invitation-only event. MELT Live is a joint venture by Steve Harvey Global and OWS Capital. Qerim will probably be in attendance at the MELT Pedal Tournament.
Qerim wasn’t thrilled that she didn’t get to break the news of her departure, saying it came out sooner than she expected.
“After much reflection, I’ve decided it’s time to close this incredible chapter and step away from First Take,” Qerim wrote on Instagram. “Hosting this show has been one of the greatest honors of my career. Every morning, I had the privilege of sharing the desk with some of the most brilliant, passionate, and entertaining voices in sports — and with all of you, the best fans in the world.”
Molly Qerim Replaced On First Take By Shae Cornette
Qerim has since been replaced on the show by blonde bombshell Shae Cornette, who made her debut during a Dallas Cowboys game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Qerim, meanwhile, has done just one job back at the University of Connecticut where she went to college, and then disappeared before surfacing with her vacation beach pics. Stephen A. Smith has left a few bodies in his wake while climbing the ladder to irreplaceable $100M man at ESPN. The way he mixed it up in a public spat with former co-host Cari Champion recently and the departing shots he took at Qerim on his podcast, let’s you know that he believes everyone is expendable.
Smith sent this message on his “Stephen A. Smith” podcast:
“I wanna move on to a broader subject about this, and this part isn’t about Molly. News for you, you can’t wake up and be Mad Dog Russo. You can’t wake up and be Adam Schein. You can’t wake up and be Stephen A. Smith. It takes work.
In the end we all have people to answer too. It doesn’t have to be about her, but when you have negotiations and talking to people and going back and forth and hearing things you may not want to hear and feeling things you may not want to feel. Even though you are valued, even though people acknowledge those kinds of things…we live in a world where we have to grow up.”
Smith continued: “Again. I’m not talking about Molly here. But I’m watching and have been watching over the last several years. People in this business fall by the waistside because we forget that all of us ultimately answer to other people. We don’t get to define our own values. We don’t get to define our own worth. We don’t get to sit there and say this is who I am and this is what I’m going to do and I don’t give a damn about what anybody says, unless you have the leverage to do it.”
“Everyone of us answers to somebody,” he reiterated. “This notion that everybody gets to do what they want to do, when they want to do it, how they want to do it, when you have your hand out for other people’s money. It doesn’t work like that.”
“It can all evaporate in a snap if you lose perspective.”
Stephen A. Smith vs. Cari Champion and Jemele Hill
Back in November, former ‘First Take’ host Cari Champion came for Smith on social media on a negative post Michelle Beadle made concerning Smith.
Champion wrote: “But Beadle just came for you yet again, like she did when I worked at ESPN. I wonder do you have that same smoke for her that you have for Jasmine Crockett, Michelle Obama, that you sometimes have for me and Jemele Hill.
“Do you have that same smoke? I’m sick of it. Keep the same energy and I call you and I root for… but you keep that same energy sir, for everybody.”
“I’ve shown you nothing but love. What are you talking about? You were hired at ‘First Take’ in large part because of me. You stayed as long as you stayed and had the support of the people who supported you because of me…”
Somehow, Jemele Hill entered the chat to defend Champion and clarify a few exaggerations that she felt Smith made in his response.
Smith also had a frosty relationship with his former co-host Max Kellerman as well. Kellerman, the original host of the now canceled “Around the Horn,” broke his silence about he and Smith’s breakup on “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Kellerman is now an employee of “The Ringer” network and addressed what went wrong on a new show with Rich Paul.
Kellerman didn’t take any direct shots at Stephen A., but he made it clear that his departure left a bitter taste in his mouth. Putting it as diplomatically as possible as not to incur his former partner’s wrath, Kellerman said:
“Stephen A. was the one partner I’ve ever had over the years where I didn’t feel like a relationship was really forming,” Kellerman said.
Max Kellerman appeared on Bill Simmons’ podcast and talked about leaving espn First Take. He breaks down his relationship with Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/EezMo9fImL
Kellerman suggests that there wasn’t enough alpha male air in the room for both of them, claiming he was too much of a heavyweight with a knockout debate game that made Stephen A. Smith is uncomfortable.
“If you’re doing a debate show and you’re a competitive person, why would you want me as a partner. That’s bad. You want to go 15 rounds everyday with Muhammad Kellerman. That’s embarrassing…
I also think that if you make a calculation, that if you can be perceived as a solo act, really, that you can get paid at a certain level that you can’t if you’re not a solo act,” Kellerman said. “Then you’d like to be a solo act or at least perceived that way.”
Pablo Torre Says Stephen A. Smith Could Have Saved Molly’s Job
Another former ESPN star, Pablo Torre, now focusing on the investigative journalist side of the game, on his podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” supported Kellerman’s claims about Stephen A. wanting the money and limelight to himself. He also felt like SAS could have saved Molly’s job if he wanted too. He chose to devalue her to a point that offended her off the show.
“He staffs the show, he picks the players on the team, he is the star of it,” Torre said. “So I think what’s frustrating for anybody who worked at ESPN and sort of felt like, ‘I’m on the team too.’ It’s that there’s a pretty brutal math problem that I think Stephen A. is happy to do, in which he’s like ‘We can find someone to play that role.’ And that sucks, I like Molly a lot, that sucks.”
Can Molly Qerim Rebound With A Career In Sports After Leaving First Take?
Molly Qerim abruptly left ESPN’s “First Take” in September 2025 and fans are still waiting to see what she will do next. (Image Credit: Arturo Holmes / Getty)
Honestly, Stephen A. Smith delivered a harsh truth to Molly and dared her to go elsewhere and make more money than the offer she felt was enough of an insult to quit one of the Top 10 jobs in sports television. For now, some thirst trap pics of Molly in paradise will at least keep her on the minds of sports fans until she rolls out her next project or lands in her new sports home.
