Stephen A. Smith has went on record to state that he wanted Max Kellerman off ‘First Take’ and he has since gotten his wish. However, since Kellerman has been gone, the show has taken a huge dip in the ratings.
ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption is now leading the ratings by a wide margin, followed by sports roundtable debate show, Around the Horn. On top of that, Get Up has a higher viewing audience than Smith’s show, as OutKick’s Bobby Burack reports.
In terms of wanting Kellerman off the show, Smith told Ebro’s Hot 97 radio show, “Yes I did. We don’t have a bad relationship. I think he’s a real good guy. I appreciate what he did for the show. We were number one for five years. We stayed number one, and I appreciate that.”
Stephen A. continued, “In the nine years I’ve been at First Take I’ve given over 33,000 takes. And what a lot of people don’t realize is, not just the work that goes into that, but also the fact that there’s a chemistry that you have and sometimes, it just stalls.”
Later in the interview, he added that, “I knew that we, together, as far as I was concerned, was not a great partnership anymore. And that was something that needed to change.”
