Stephen A. Smith made the surprising announcement that he was launching two new shows with SiriusXM including a daily afternoon show following First Take. However, nobody seemed more surprised than the current hosts in that time slot, Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker.
Beadle and Decker gave their unfiltered reaction live on the air on Wednesday following Smith’s announcement. But that was only just the start. Beadle then gave further remarks that targeted Smith saying she does not respect him and that the two have issues dating back years.
Stephen A. Smith called into the evening VSiN Live program on SiriusXM with Patrick Meagher and Dustin Swedelson. In the chat with Meagher, Smith did not address Beadle’s criticism directly. However, he went on the record to state that he was caught off guard by Beadle and Decker not being informed of his impending move to their timeslot. And that it was not his business who SiriusXM did or did not tell before it became public.
“I want to state for the record just so everyone knows what kind of man I am and what kind of teammate I am. I had no idea that folks did not know. I was told by SiriusXM to wait until this morning on The Howard Stern Show to make the announcement. Whatever communication they had with anybody who’s there, where they’re staying, where they’re being moved to. Who’s staying, who’s going or whatever. It’s none of my business,” Smith said.
“But let me be very, very clear. It would always be my concern because I would never in a million years be unprofessional and inconsiderate of a contemporary or a colleague. If somebody was not made aware of my arrival, meaning the people that directly would be impacted by my arrival on SiriusXM, it is something that I would have made sure of. So I just want to let anybody out there who was listening, along with you all know, I’m proud to be back. I’m happy to be back and be part of the team. But that operative word is team. The people I work with are my teammates. And I don’t do stuff like that. Whatever management and the bosses at SiriusXM have decided to do is their business. That has nothing to do with me. But as it pertains to what has something to do with me, that is not something I would ever do.”
Smith also answered critics and skeptics who believe his daily SiriusXM show will just be a copy and paste of what he does on First Take each and every weekday on ESPN.
“I’ve done radio at Fox, I’ve done radio at ESPN, I’ve done radio at SiriusXM and I’ve never been accused of doing First Take on radio. Never. And that won’t happen now,” Smith added.
Smith is adding the SiriusXM job to his daily ESPN gig, his own podcast, and his many cable news appearances in the evening. Did we also mention his acting ambitions with General Hospital and Law & Order too? At this point about the only place you won’t find Stephen A. Smith is MeTV watching re-runs of Matlock and Hogan’s Heroes.
Finally, Stephen A. Smith returned to the Michelle Beadle controversy once again, professing one more time that he would never try to embarrass a colleague publicly and be insensitive in allowing them to not be given a heads up about being replaced beforehand and insisting that he was merely following instructions from SiriusXM.
“I don’t believe in blindsiding anybody or backstabbing anybody. You see me coming. I don’t sit up there and apologize for anything, who I am, what I stand for, and what I do. I don’t roll like that. I would never put my contemporaries or colleagues, just do something and be so insensitive where I know they didn’t know and I decided to go on the air and announce it anyway. I would never do that. I was instructed to do it on this date on this time on Howard Stern’s show and it was my belief that everybody was aware internally of what was coming.”
It was a very passionate case from Stephen A. Smith and there is nothing in his track record that would indicate he would try to pull a stunt like this on Cody Decker and Michelle Beadle. Regardless, it is a very unfortunate situation and certainly an awkward start to his new tenure with SiriusXM.
About Matt Yoder