Stephen A. Smith catfished by fake Cari Champion

Stephen A. Smith received an inquiry last year from someone he believed was Cari Champion, but it most definitely did not come from Cari Champion.

After months of going back and forth on social media and via their own shows, Smith sat down with Champion and Jemele Hill for a nearly three-hour episode of their Flagrant and Funny podcast this week. And while they discussed a lot of interesting topics on the podcast, the craziest thing to come from their chat might be the fact that Stephen A. Smith appears to have been catfished by someone posing as Cari Champion.

The revelation came as Smith defended his claim that he was a driving force in getting Champion to ESPN from Tennis Channel earlier in her career. As he alleged Champion asked him for help in landing meetings with higher-ups years ago, Smith also claimed she came to him with a much more recent job request.

“When Molly [Qerim] resigned a few months ago, did you not reach out?” Smith asked Champion.

Champion, who moderated First Take when Smith and Skip Bayless were on the show, looked like she was about to fall out of her seat as she said “NO!” emphatically before Hill quickly interjected to express similar surprise.

“Molly? Where?! And by the way, when?!” Champion continued, struggling to comprehend where Smith had gotten this belief. “Where and when?! On text? Please, tell me! How did I reach out?”

Surprised by Champion’s surprise, Smith attempted to stick to his story, asking, “You did not reach out to me and say, ‘We need to talk’ when Molly resigned? When Molly resigned, ‘We need to talk, I need to talk to you, I need to be back in that seat.’ You didn’t say that?”

With no sarcasm at all, Champion asked, “Stephen A., do you know who’s texting you? Because was that a text? I’m being serious.”

Champion went back and read her text messages to Smith in the last year to prove she never sent anything about Qerim or the First Take moderator chair to him. Smith and Champion also both admitted to changing their phone numbers in the last 12 months, making a conversation about First Take seem even less likely after Qerim left the show.

Realizing that Champion was not joking, Smith sat back in his chair and conceded, saying, “Then it was somebody who pretended to be her.”

For years, Champion has said she felt underutilized on First Take alongside Smith and Bayless. More than a decade after exiting First Take, it would have been very surprising to learn she was now interested in returning to a show she didn’t have fond memories of. Smith didn’t seem surprised by her potential interest. But he was very surprised to learn the alleged interest seemed to come from someone pretending to be Champion.