Stephen A. Smith is hot at the chatter around his defense of Jerry Jones’ Arkansas desegregation photo that surfaced. Smith heard the critiques of his stand on Jones, and one especially stood out to him, the unofficial threats of lashes doled out by controversial Pan-Africanist, Dr. Umar Johnson. Smith took to his “Know Mercy” podcast to say how he felt.
“Somebody has got to be the grown up here. It’s going to be me. I don’t know any human being alive I would wish 50,000 lashes on,” Smith said on the podcast. On a recent episode of “The Breakfast Club,” when asked by host Charlamagne Tha God how many lashes he would give Stephen A. Smith, the doctor of clinical psychology said that Smith is up to “150,000 lashes right now for his cooning.”
Smith was about 100,000 short.
When They Go Low …
“Respectfully, how low can you go? Just because I said the man is in a still photo, you would say something like that about me? Never met you, don’t know you,” he continued. “Educated brother, I wish you nothing but the best. But you would wish that upon another human being…a brother? Really? That’s how low you would go?”
Dr. Umar Ifatunde, more popularly known as Dr. Umar Johnson, went on social media in early November to give his verdict on the polarizing perspectives of Black sports commentators on issues discussed in the culture. Smith was one of those he deemed a violator of athletes like Kyrie Irving for his lack of support for him during the anti-vaccination controversy and when he shared a link to a movie deemed anti-Semitic.
“Richard Jefferson, I sentence you to 500 lashes for conduct unbecoming a Black man,” Umar said while whipping a belt on social media. “Stephen A. Smith, I sentence you to 4,000 lashes for conduct unbecoming a Black man. Chris Broussard, Rob Parker, I sentence you both to 2500 lashes for conduct unbecoming a Black man.”
Leave Deion Alone
Smith took umbrage with the negative news cycle of late. He has had enough from the backlash he’s experienced from his Jerry Jones take to the world’s opinions on Brittney Griner’s release from Russian custody over other Americans wrongfully detained.
“Everybody want to fight, verbally spar, engage in fisticuffs, do whatever we want to do; I ain’t running,” Smith continued. “Some of this stuff that’s going on right now is so utterly ridiculous it’s getting on my damn nerves. To hell with it. We got Black folks going at Deion Sanders. We got people still coming at me because of a picture of Jerry Jones from 66 years ago.”
Smith felt the culture turned on Deion Sanders for leaving the Jackson State University football program for Colorado University. He thought Black Americans were the only community that would hold a financial gain against Sanders after already delivering on his promises to JSU and the HBCU system at large with his past contributions.
“Anybody who’s going after Primetime Deion Sanders for departing from an HBCU that is Jackson State (University) to go to Colorado (University), you’re just an ignorant a** person,” Smith said adamantly. “The man is 55 years old, ladies and gentlemen. He’s getting paid a salary of approximately $600,000 a year.
“He signed five years, $29.5 million in Colorado; that doesn’t include bonuses and incentives. So you’re talking about close top ten times the salary he was making. You’re not taking that job? Really? What more do you want? What does he need to do? Take off your drawers and wash them for you? He went to a place that wasn’t even eligible for Bowls to a legitimately being in a place where he can go after a national championship? Do you know that?”
As the most potent voice of the talent at ESPN, Smith will ruffle feathers and, apparently, he is willing to engage in a verbal gunfight when necessary.
