A few months ago, former NBA players Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick got into a heated debate on ESPN’s “First Take” over whether the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic should’ve been the NBA’s regular season MVP. During that debate, the issue of race came up. Stephen A. Smith, the main personality on the show, went on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” to discuss the dispute, and he said it went too far. -via ahnfiredigital.com / July 12, 2023

“First of all, it can too far,” Smith admitted. “Secondly, in that particular show, it did go too far. I thought both of them were wrong to a degree, in terms of how far it went. “Everybody I’ve brought on the show, this is what I demand from them. Be your true authentic self. Don’t come on here with no phony s—. Don’t have me, or our audience looking at you and thinking you’re faking something or you’re saying something for just effect. You need to feel it. Here’s where it gets tricky though, what happens is sometimes in the heat of a debate you’re saying something and then you catch yourself and you’re like, ‘Oh s—, what did I just say?’” -via ahnfiredigital.com / July 12, 2023

For his part, Smith, who, along with Perkins, is Black, downplayed Perkins’ accusation. “What I didn’t know was the fury, at least it appeared to be fury to me, that JJ Redick was feeling over the subject,” Smith told Simmons. “When he came on, on one hand, I understood how or why he felt the way he felt because of what Perk had said. On the other hand, I was saying to JJ, ‘This is your colleague on the show. If you feel that way, did you have to come at him like that?’ Because it did get uncomfortable.” -via ahnfiredigital.com / July 12, 2023