Stephen A. Smith is pushing back after Emmanuel Acho called his comments about the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster “racist.”
Smith went viral on Wednesday for his reaction to the Lakers’ new core of Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler, arguing the team couldn’t compete for a championship with an all-white group of star players and calling the lineup “White Dude Central.” The comments drew criticism from several corners of sports media, including from those like Acho, who on his show, Speakeasy, called Smith’s take “racist,” accusing the First Take host of feeding into the same sorts of stereotypes that held back Black quarterbacks in the NFL for much of the league’s history, which he said Smith would be the “first person” to call out.
“You don’t have the luxury of crying out ‘racism’ and then simultaneously spewing a racist remark. We just don’t have that luxury,” Acho said. “Contrary to Stephen A.’s belief that somebody gotta say it, ******* ody had to say it.”
So while Smith is on a scheduled break from ESPN and SiriusXM, he got back in the saddle and issued a response on his YouTube channel on Thursday.
In the video, Smith addressed Acho directly, telling the former FS1 host that he calls ******* and strikes in all situations where race and sports intersect, and defending his judgment on what is appropriate to say in those situations.
Smith went viral on Wednesday for his reaction to the Lakers’ new core of Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler, arguing the team couldn’t compete for a championship with an all-white group of star players and calling the lineup “White Dude Central.” The comments drew criticism from several corners of sports media, including from those like Acho, who on his show, Speakeasy, called Smith’s take “racist,” accusing the First Take host of feeding into the same sorts of stereotypes that held back Black quarterbacks in the NFL for much of the league’s history, which he said Smith would be the “first person” to call out.
“You don’t have the luxury of crying out ‘racism’ and then simultaneously spewing a racist remark. We just don’t have that luxury,” Acho said. “Contrary to Stephen A.’s belief that somebody gotta say it, ******* ody had to say it.”
So while Smith is on a scheduled break from ESPN and SiriusXM, he got back in the saddle and issued a response on his YouTube channel on Thursday.
In the video, Smith addressed Acho directly, telling the former FS1 host that he calls ******* and strikes in all situations where race and sports intersect, and defending his judgment on what is appropriate to say in those situations.
27 days ago
