Something about Terrell Owens and “First Take” hosts creates a toxic environment, but instead of his usual adversary in former F.T. co-host Skip Bayless, it is now the face of ESPN, Stephen A. Smith.
A clip of Smith on “The Joe Budden Podcast” keeping it very real on why his former co-host, Max Kellerman, was dismissed from the show went viral.
“I didn’t want to go from No. 1 to No. 2 when Skip [Bayless] left,” Smith said on the podcast. “I wasn’t having that. That s**t wasn’t gonna happen. You weren’t an athlete, and you weren’t a journalist. And the absence of the two components left people wondering ‘Why should we listen to you?’”
Smith Gave Kellerman The Ax
Smith implies that Kellerman got dismissed to make way for the chemistry he felt with his carousel of analysts like Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, Michael Irvin, Ryan Clark, Marcus Spears, and more, up to the current co-host Shannon Sharpe. Now that Smith kept it honest, the internet took sides, and some inferred that Kellerman was let go from “First Take” because Terrell Owens drove a wedge between the two over Colin Kaepernick.
Three years ago, when Kaepernick had a polarizing NFL workout, many felt that Smith was not supportive, including Owens, who said live on the air, “Max almost seems blacker than you, Stephen A.”
At that time, Smith was highly offended at the comment, but the smoke seemed to have cleared until its revival on “X,” formerly known as Twitter. When an “X” user named @JayBabyEars reposted the clip with Owens making what he then called a “tongue-in-cheek” comment, Owens reposted it with the comment, “FACTS!!!!!!”
Smith saw the slight and felt the need to let Owens know how he felt about the resurgence of the beef.
Read More on The Shadow League: Terrell Owens Reignites Beef With Stephen A. Smith, Who Threatens To Expose T.O. For “The Trifling” Ish “You Tried To Pull”
