In a lengthy tirade on the digital baseball show Foul Territory on Thursday, former MLB pitcher and current NESN analyst Jonathan Papelbon went off on ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. He called Smith a racist, alleged Smith was once banned from covering multiple Philadelphia sports teams, and compared Smith to former president Donald Trump.
Papelbon was responding to a viral clip from First Take this week in which Smith criticized Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout for his own meniscus tear, claiming baseball players aren’t competing athletically at the level that should result in injury.
That apparently riled Papelbon up. And it saw him unleash new claims of Smith getting into trouble with Philadelphia sports clubs, dig up old dirt on Smith in an attempt to paint him as a bigot, and pull out every insult he could think of.
“I look at him (as) three things,” Papelbon said. “I look at him as a racist, I look at him as xenophobic, I look at him as a fake. A fake person.
“That’s not what the game needs. Everybody wants to tune into the media, I get it. But at the end of the day, you have to be responsible for the s*** that you say. And unless ESPN holds him accountable for the stupid s*** that he says, guess what? He’s going to keep doing it.”
.@TheRealJPap58 on why he sees Stephen A. Smith as a complete joke.
Pap's full response here: https://t.co/nH9bZY4y9S pic.twitter.com/oYzqWnImHy
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) May 2, 2024
Papelbon recalled an incident from reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani’s time with the Angels in which Smith attacked Ohtani for his difficulties with English. He also claimed Black sports fans “don’t accept” Smith because of his use of the N-word on air in the early 2010s.
Papelbon also claimed that when he played for the Phillies and Smith wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer in the late-2000s, he was told by Phillies PR that Smith was banned from the team’s clubhouse after being caught snooping in the manager’s office.
“I’ve always looked at this guy like a complete joke, and really shady,” Papelbon said. “When you get kicked out of a major league clubhouse, you should never be able to be a journalist ever again.”
Papelbon believes this run-in with the Phillies is why Smith is often so negative toward baseball.
“This guy is more narcissistic than Donald Trump,” Papelbon said. “You’re talking about one of the most narcissistic people you could come across.”
Papelbon’s solution? A punishment from ESPN.
“I challenge ESPN to do something about it. I challenge ESPN to either fire him or cut his pay or do something about it, because honestly nobody wants to listen to his s***,” Papelbon said. “Because everybody knows that it’s just for likes, it’s just for followers, he really doesn’t actually know what he’s saying … this is just another idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
While the new accusations and decision to call Smith racist are noteworthy, it seems someone may need to explain to Papelbon the purpose of Stephen A. Smith. Nothing about his Trout rant or ignorance around baseball or theatrical performances on First Take is new.
If history is any indication, Smith won’t take too kindly to someone calling him racist over incidents he has refuted and addressed previously. A response is likely.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.