Stephen A. Smith, ESPN First Take panelist, is the one who roared with the bank account which soared. But he’s playing the “race card” because he’s allegedly underpaid. Smith makes $12 million per year. But, just take a look at what he has to say about race and income.
“The bottom line is that, just as women are underpaid relative to their male counterparts, Blacks are also underpaid relative to their White counterparts.
“So, when you view it from that perspective, and ofcourse, people look at my face. I’m not referring to me, even though I have some news for you: I am significantly underpaid compared with other people on television and what their salaries are. But that’s another topic. I don’t apologize for it to anyone. I am underpaid.”
These absurd comments were made Friday by Smith while discussing the fact there are no U.S-born black athletes participating in this year’s World Series matchup between Philadelphia and Houston.
This is due to the inherent differences between pro baseball and pro football. For years, baseball has been losing the battle for the best athletes’ recruits.
Athletes like Kyler Murray could also choose to play baseball for a few more years, earning low wages and riding buses to games. He chose football instead and went straight from Oklahoma University to a starting spot and a fat contract with Arizona Cardinals of NFL. He travels all over the world, staying in the most luxurious hotels.
So Smith’s whine regarding race and baseball is not justified.
The First Take personality nailed the issue of blacks still trusting the U.S. in sports journalism and sports journalism. :
“We are still Blacks in this country. We don’t trust this nation in terms of meritocracy.
Smith is a hypocrite when it comes to raising the issue meritocracy. He is considered the most popular personality on ESPN television. According to Celebrity Net Worth, he received a pay increase of $3 million from ESPN in 2019, and was also bumped up by $4 million to $12 Million last year. Smith is the highest-paid ESPN personality. Before CBS Sports gave Tony Romo a $17million contract, Smith was the highest paid sportscaster in the world.
Smith cannot be taken seriously when he cries a river about race and wage gaps. This lame race comment must rank up there with his most absurd woke statements. It’s just as absurd as these stupid claims.
Smith stated that women should not “provoke wrong actions” by men in 2014.
Smith took a comment from the Onion in 2012 seriously, but he didn’t realize it was satirical.
Smith claimed that Ben Roethlisberger, a former Steelers’ quarterback, “has never come across [as] a bad guy” in 2014. Big Ben once ordered his bodyguards to take a girl to the toilet in the back of a club so that he could have his say with her.
We have good news for Smith. Smith’s completely unfounded claim that he is underpaid because of his skin color is just as stupid as these remarks and many others like them.
