Stephen A Smith didn’t appreciate being called out by an ESPN colleague during Monday’s episode of ‘First Take,’ but there wasn’t much he could say to defend himself.
The WNBA has been a huge talking point at The Worldwide Leader in Sports since the arrivals of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, but it appears there’s some bitterness on Monica McNutt’s part as she feels the network should have been paying attention years ago.
McNutt put Stephen A. on the spot during said show to start the week, asserting he has given little time to women’s sports over the past few years.
“Who talks about the WNBA, who talks about women, who talks about women’s sports more than First Take?” Smith asked during a WNBA discussion on Monday morning.
“Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform, you could have been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,” McNutt replied.
Stephen A Smith was clearly shaken up by the retort. “Wow,” he said, accusing Monica of not watching that many episodes of ‘First Take.’
Check out the exchange in the video from Awful Announcing:
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“Ole boy didn’t know what to say!” one fan joked.
“She’s 100 sadly,” another fan claimed. “They could have been doing it 10 years ago if they wanted. Storylines make the league and its been a big miss in the marketing dept of the WNBA to not have narratives debated on these shows.”
Stephen A Smith Had Someone Speak Up In His Defense
One user defended Stephen A Smith, stating he has shown women’s basketball more love than anyone else.
“I been watching first take for years Stephen A def showed the wnba more love than any other platform I seen but at the same time u can’t force topics on ppl the audience weren’t interested in the wnba to be talking bout it regularly,” they wrote.
Smith and ESPN have been doing their part to support women’s sports lately. However, it does seem like it’s mostly because of Clark.
So perhaps the network could have done much better on such a front. But better late than never, right?
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