Stephen A Smith responds to criticism of controversial Ray Rice comments
By Josh Sanchez
On Friday morning, Stephen A. Smith shared his thoughts on the suspension of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.
It was a messy situation involving a domestic dispute between Rice and his fiancee. There was video surveillance of Rice dragging his unconscious fiancee out of a hotel elevator after he allegedly knocked her unconscious.
The situation netted Rice a two-game suspension.
Smith shared his controversial thoughts on Friday’s edition of ESPN First Take where he expressed that Rice’s fiancee may have “provoked” the incident.
Those comments created plenty of negative backlash — including an emotional and well thought out response from ESPN colleague Michelle Beadle — but Smith tried to explain himself with a rant on Twitter.
Shockingly, Smith is blaming everyone but himself for HIS comments which led to the controversy.
It was unfortunate that the “embrace debate” culture led to such a poorly articulated conversation on national television, but hopefully Smith and everyone at ESPN will learn from the situation.
It would also be appropriate for Smith to deliver a REAL apology for his comments instead of trying to defend them.