Stephen A. Smith took aim at Tim Tebow a few days ago when he argued that “white privilege” was a factor in his NFL comeback at age 33 after years out of the league.
Tebow officially signed a 1-year deal with the Jacksonville Jags after spending the past few years pursuing a professional baseball career in the New York Mets’ minor league system.
“I’m happy for him, meaning Tim Tebow specifically, but when you look at the totality of the situation, If I’m gonna bring up white privilege when I brought up Steve Nash getting the job in Brooklyn, is this not an example of white privilege?” Smith said. “What brother you know is getting this opportunity?”
“That makes people uncomfortable because we’re talking about race when I say something like that,” he added. “Let me be the first to say – I don’t give a damn how you feel. I mean what I say. It is white privilege because that’s not something that’s happening for any brothers out there.”
Last year, Smith called out the Brooklyn Nets for hiring Steve Nash and pointed that out as an example of White privilege as well.
Tebow reunites with Urban Meyer, his former head coach on two national championships teams at the University of Florida.
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“The reality is that Urban Meyer is in a position where he could exercise – I’m not saying he did it for Tim Tebow because he was white or anything like that,” Smith added. “It has nothing to do with race in regard to that. I’m simply saying when you see an opportunity like that happen, it is clear that it happens for white folks and it doesn’t happen for everybody else, and that’s problematic.”
Max Kellerman did not have an issue with the Tebow signing but did state that Tebow should mention that Colin Kaepernick has not received an opportunity to return to the league.
“It would be nice for Tim Tebow, who has been given this opportunity – he doesn’t have to apologize for it – but it would be nice for him to mention Kaepernick’s name,” Kellerman said.
A first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, Tebow struggled as a quarterback at the professional level. He last appeared in an NFL game in 2012.
