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The hole kept getting deeper on Friday for ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.
Hours after making televised remarks that seemed to suggest women sometimes invited physical assault upon themselves, Smith posted an apology online, insisting he did “NOT believe a woman provokes the horrible domestic abuses that are sadly such a major problem in our society.”
Smith’s trouble began during a morning appearance on “First Take,” the program on which he debates sports issues with Skip Bayless. Amid a discussion of the two-game suspension the NFL levied on Ravens running back Ray Rice this week for assaulting his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, Smith ventured into a meandering soliloquy about domestic abuse.
“Let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions,” Smith said. “If we come after somebody has put their hands on you, it doesn’t negate the fact that they already put their hands on you. So let’s try to make sure that we can do our part in making sure that that doesn’t happen.”
DELMUNDO, ANTHONY NYDN FREELANCE
Stephen A. Smith sticks his foot in his mouth while talking about the Ray Rice domestic dispute incident on ESPN's First Take.Smith said Rice, who was caught dragging an unconscious Palmer — whom he has since married — out of an Atlantic City elevator after allegedly slugging her, “probably deserves more than a two-game suspension.”
Smith then added: “We also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation.”
The backlash was swift and severe, with Smith’s ESPN colleague Michelle Beadle sarcastically commenting on Twitter that she was “now aware that I can provoke my own beating.”
BRYAN BEDDER
ESPN's Michelle Beadle blasts Stephen A. Smith for 'irresponsible' comments on domestic violence."So I was just forced to watch this morning's First Take. A) I'll never feel clean again B) I'm now aware that I can provoke my own beating," Beadle wrote.
The SportsNation co-host continued to go after Smith in a series of tweets.
"I'm thinking about wearing a miniskirt this weekend...I'd hate to think what I'd be asking for by doing so @stephenasmith. #dontprovoke."
She added: "I was in an abusive relationship once. I'm aware that men & women can both be the abuser. To spread the message that we not 'provoke' is wrong ... Violence isn't the victim's issue. It's the abuser's. To insinuate otherwise is irresponsible and disgusting. Walk. Away."
Initially, Smith tried to quell the outrage on Twitter, where he posted a series of messages in which he practically reiterated the comments that had offended so many.
“What about addressing women on how they can help prevent the obvious wrong being done upon them,” Smith wrote, insisting he “wasn’t BLAMING women for anything.”
Only after those messages fanned the flames did Smith post his statement claiming to “recognize the sensitivity of the issues and the confusion and disgust that my comments caused.”
It’s not the first time Smith has suggested women have provoked assaults. After NFL receiver Chad Johnson was arrested on a charge of domestic battery in 2012 following a dispute with his then-wife, “Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozada, Smith said on ESPN that she may have blown up the incident for publicity. “Her actions have been completely glossed over,” Smith said.
“I am sick and tired of men constantly being vilified and accused of things and we stop there,” Smith said on another occasion. “I’m saying, ‘Can we go a step further?’ Since we want to dig all deeper into Chad Johnson, can we dig in deep to her?”
