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Stephen A. Smith isn’t fond of the “utter bullshit” he recently heard from Peter Rosenberg, who took issue with the always-in-headlines sports personality’s latest Caitlin Clark-focused comments.
As seen in a new 11-minute video from Smith, this all began with Rosenberg’s response to talk spurred by Clark not making it onto the Olympic team.
“I’m not letting it go,” Smith, who said he was about to hop on a flight to Dallas for the NBA Finals, said. “I don’t appreciate what he said. Actually, I think what he said was utter bullshit.”
From there, Smith played the clip in question, showing Rosenberg mentioning him by name “because he’s jumping in on this train of the ‘Caitlin Clark’s not being treated fairly by the world.’” Per Rosenberg, this approach, which Smith passionately denied he was actually taking, is unfair to both Clark and the league at large.
“This whole idea that if Caitlin Clark isn’t propped up the right way then it’s not right for the sport, if that’s your take maybe you don’t really care about the sport and shouldn’t be giving an opinion about it,” Rosenberg said.
Smith then responded, at length, to Rosenberg, all while restating what he says has been his point all along. Rosenberg, he argued, “misrepresented his thoughts” and, notably, did not attempt to reach out to him directly before taking the “public airwaves” path.
“Let me reiterate my point for the challenged,” Smith said. “And by that I don’t mean somebody who’s cerebrally challenged or intellectually challenged. I think morally challenged, simply because it’s not in their heart and in their mind to have this need to be fair. Ladies and gentlemen, I said what I said about Caitlin Clark and I’m not backing up one bit. There is not a single player on Team USA, not a single player, that deserves to be taken off because of her. Not a single player.”
However, Smith added, it’s his position that Clark’s presence would boost the box office draw, a facet he says could also lead to “more endorsement dollars, more eyeballs from Madison Avenue, [and] a better television contract.”
While Smith said he could understand those who would disagree with this in terms of sheer merit, what he can't get behind is someone, at least from his perspective, aligning him with an argument he never made.
"Why the hell would this guy go out there and say to America, 'Yo, Stephen A. is propping Caitlin Clark up as a victim?' What, you the white boy that’s gravitating to Black folks and you wanna make folks believe, 'Hey, you know something, this is the latest thing he’s doing against y'all?' Is that what this is? You sitting there and you on a station, they’re playing hip-hop music, that makes you down now? You think you know us better than me? Is that what this is, Peter? Peter."
The topic of salary differences between WNBA and NBA players was then briefly broached, with Smith again stating that someone like Clark could be a boost for both “the popularity and the exposure” of the sport. He then returned his attention to Rosenberg, a man whom otherwise has his respect as a “very smart” and “talented” individual.
“You’re not stupid, Peter,” he said. “You know better. In this instance, you’re just full of shit.”
Smith also linked this to a larger trend he says he’s observed as of late, specifically when it comes to not reaching out to him directly and instead going public with a disagreement. Such an approach, he said, “is BS” and sees his thoughts and ideas being misrepresented.
“Shutting the hell up would have been an option, you know, if you’re gon’ call my name out like that,” Smith said toward the end of his surprise-dropped video. “But once again I find myself in front of the microphone saying, damn.”
See Smith's full response up top.
Clark, meanwhile, is indeed not a part of the Team USA lineup. In a recent interview, per the Associated Press, Jen Rizzotti, a selection committee chair, addressed the marketing boost argument while discussing the larger process behind picking participating athletes.
“It would be irresponsible for us to talk about her in a way other than how she would impact the play of the team,” Rizzotti said this week.
