Stephen A. Smith supports and praises Brian Flores in his lawsuit against the NFL, but he does not agree with one thing that he did that may come back to bite him in the end.
Speaking on ESPN’s “First Take,” Smith gave Flores props for suing the NFL but believed that he should not have exposed private text messages from his former boss, Bill Belichick.
“I’m very proud of what Brian Flores is doing, and I stand with him … my only question is, damn, when you reveal private text messages, that makes people feel uncomfortable,” Smith said.
“Because when you do stuff like that — white people come to work with a job to do every day. Black folks come with a responsibility.”
Belichick was in the midst of congratulating congratulations to Brian Daboll for “landing” the job with the Giants, not realizing he was sending texts to Flores.
“Sorry — I f–ked this up,” Belichick allegedly responded. “I double-checked & I misread the text. I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that. BB.”
That text came several days before Flores interviewed for the position. In his lawsuit, Flores described his interview process with the Giants as a “sham” meant to satisfy the NFL’s “Rooney Rule” of interviewing minority candidates.
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“The other part,” Smith said to co-host Keyshawn Johnson, “when you’re black, they’re looking for a reason not to hire you. Whereas with whites, they’re willing to embrace reasons to hire you.
“So when you show yourself being someone willing to reveal private text messages, that is the kind of thing that makes people reluctant to talk to you.”
