Stephen A. Smith believes his critics are trying to cancel him for saying it would have been nice of Bad Bunny to perform at least part of the Super Bowl halftime show in English.
Smith was very complimentary of Bad Bunny after his Super Bowl LX halftime show. As we pointed out in our first post on Smith’s reaction to Bad Bunny’s performance, Smith liked the show, he loves the Spanish language, and he thought the whole thing was a vibe. But as we also pointed out in our first post on Smith’s reaction to Bad Bunny’s performance, he agreed with President Donald Trump by saying, “It would have been nice if some of the songs were in English.”
“Here’s my only reticence, you’re in the United States of America, and you perform damn-near an entire performance in Spanish,” Smith said on his Monday SiriusXM Radio show. “But if you didn’t understand Spanish, you were lost. And most Americans don’t understand Spanish…It was primarily in Spanish. And if most people don’t understand the lyrics because you’re speaking in what they deem to be a foreign language, that is a legitimate point the president made.”
On his Tuesday show for Mad Dog Sports Radio, Smith revisited the Super Bowl LX halftime show conversation, claiming his comments have been misrepresented and accused critics of trying to get him canceled.
“Because I said that, they got me all over the place with pictures pairing me with right-wingers talking about ‘I was against Bad Bunny.’ I was not against Bad Bunny,” Smith insisted. “One lie after another after another. And ladies and gentlemen, let me say this: I honor my contracts. I’m not going away. I say stuff on my political channel or my YouTube channel. Why are folks calling ESPN? I didn’t say it on their airwaves.
“They have nothing to do with what I’m saying. I own this show,” Smith continued. “I own both my shows, and I own my own YouTube channel. Why you constantly bringing up my day job? ‘Stephen A. of ESPN.’ Because you want to get me canceled. Why don’t you bring up about me on SiriusXM? Because you know there’s no way in hell Scott Greenstein or SiriusXM is going to cancel me. We live in a society where people are sitting up there looking at it, and it’s like, ‘Yo, if you disagree with somebody, that’s a reason to go scorched earth on them,’ as if they committed a crime. That’s what these soft-ass, irrelevant, nonproductive people try to do. It’s not appropriate to say on SiriusXM, I’m gonna say it anyway, they can kiss my ass.”
We also live in a world where sports entertainers can go scorched earth on an athlete, as Smith has proved throughout his career with Kwame Brown, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and others.
“I’m talking about people willing to use fake stuff and lies to start stuff; they can kiss my ass,” Smith ranted. “And I want to state this because I know there’s some people that have reached out to employers and people who run platforms like SiriusXM and ESPN, looking to create noise for me. Let me be very clear in this regard as well: I’m not here to be your friend. I speak my truth, I tell you how I feel, and then I give you the platform to express what you feel, albeit respectfully.”
“It’s been 30-plus years, I think I’m okay. But I’ll say it one more time, those who want to get at me by lying, refusing to contextualize me properly, and coming after me, you can kiss my ass,” Smith repeated. “It’s not gonna stop me. All it does is inspire me. It makes me louder, it makes me more energetic, it makes me more fearless because I refuse to bow to your sorry asses.”
Smith also reminded his audience that he had major dental surgery late last year. According to Smith, his tooth was stapled to his gums while he was on air for about a month. And Smith said he was sharing that seemingly random bit of information because the surgeries and recovery forced him to be more reserved and mild-mannered on-air.
“By about the springtime, I expect to be in the best shape of my life. Louder than ever, more outspoken than ever. More energized than ever. Y’all think I’m bad now? You wait a couple of months. You just wait. I ain’t even begun to roar.”
The end of the NFL season is often a sad time for many sports fans. But Stephen A. Smith teasing that his give-no-f*cks era is coming should give everyone something to look forward to.
