At the tail end of First Take’s extended discussion today about the ongoing crisis between the NBA and China — Stephen A. Smith wanted to bring up one last scorching hot take before they moved on to the next topic.
“Before we close,” Smith said, “I would remind you that, throughout this world, one of the things that exists is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I don’t see folks outside of the Jewish community talking about that too often.”
Smith was quickly cut off by co-host Molly Qerim who wanted to go to commercial break.
“Let’s take a commercial break,” Qerim said. She added, “sometimes obviously our moral compass trumps business interests.”
A memo was recently sent out to employees informing them to stay away from political conversations, so Smith was likely reminded of that during the commercial.
Rockets general manger Daryl Morey and his since-deleted pro-Hong Kong tweet has caused a wave of conflict between China and the NBA.
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Morey has since apologized for the tweet: “I was merely voicing one thought, based on one interpretation, of one complicated event. I have had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives.”
