Skip Bayless shot off a controversial tweet Monday night after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field after he made a tackle on Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. He would soon receive CPR on the field and was rushed to a local Cincinnati hospital, where he was intubated and listed in critical condition. Before the game was postponed, Bayless tweeted, “This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome.”
Horrible timing as everybody cared about the health of a player and not a football game.
Bayless’ Undisputed co-host Shannon Sharpe did not come to work on Tuesday, and when he did show up on Wednesday, they quickly got into a very fiery exchange about Bayless’ tweet.
Everybody has been blasting Skip, but not one long-time friend.
In an interview with USA Today Sports, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith shared his thoughts on Bayless’ tweet.
“I’m not about to judge Skip Bayless or anybody else for saying the wrong thing,” Smith said. “God knows I have (said the wrong thing). Intent matters. Yes, you’ve got to be sensitive out there. Mental health matters, life matters, human beings’ well-being matters. And when you speak, you have to make sure that you’re sensitive to everything that you can be sensitive to.
“Skip can defend himself. I’ve spent years disagreeing with Skip Bayless, I disagree with him now, and I’m going to disagree with him into the future. But he’s still my brother, he’s still a guy that brought me here on First Take and I know who he is, I know what he’s about. Do I agree with everything that he says? Or how he says it? Or the timing with which he uses to say things? No. But the flip side to it is that I know, by and large his heart is in the right place and people make mistakes.”
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Bayless and Smith worked together for many years at ESPN. They may be on different networks, but their friendship remains.
