Stephen A Smith: 'Grow up' about Floyd Mayweather's violent past

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith continues to downplay Floyd Mayweather’s domestic violence &

Stephen A. Smith exists for stories like this.

Smith exists just as much for the “what is wrong with Stephen A. Smith?” columns as he does for the millions who tune into First Take every day. The controversy is his livelihood; his job is to give his out-there opinion and let everyone yell about how wrong, or right, he is.

We shouldn’t necessarily believe that what he says is his opinion; he may just as well be looking for the most controversial take he can find. But sometimes, even Smith says something so wrong that it needs to be talked about.

On a recent First Take episode, Smith was responding to criticism about a series of interviews he did with boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. as part of the lead-up to Mayweather’s fight with Manny Pacquiao, which is, at the risk of hyperbole, the most anticipated event in the history of time.

Many critics attacked Smith for glossing over Mayweather’s history of domestic violence, arguing that as a journalist (if that word can even describe Smith), he has a responsibility to bring it up.

Smith responded with this argument on First Take, in which he says, in part, that everyone needs to “grow up” when it comes to public figures with violent histories.

Here’s part of his speech on the show:

"You can complain and draw attention to these issues that affect Floyd Mayweather just like it affected Mike Tyson. In the end, once the court of law has dealt with them, in whatever way they choose, we ultimately get back to why they are relevant in the first place. They are relevant because as fighters they are great and people want to see them, whether it’s seeing them win or seeing them get knocked out. That’s the reality of the world that we are living in. We all need to just grow up and own up to that reality because they could never be who they are in terms of how they affect us as a society if we didn’t allow it collectively to happen. But we seem to do that in America and then turn around and wonder why others do it as well. I don’t understand that."

Here’s the full video. Note that I’m only including this video as proof that this happened; it is not an invitation to watch the video. There are better ways to spend your time. Go out and live! Avoid this madness.

Domestic violence is not some minor issue that can be forgiven over time if the athlete simply wins enough. This isn’t an athlete using steroids or something; this is a person with a history of horrific, violent crimes, and if he’s going to be glorified on national television the way Mayweather is, the rest of us have the right to remind people of this guy’s history.

(h/t Deadspin)

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