ESPN
Stephen A. Smith, because he simply talks so much on a wide variety of television, radio, and podcast programs, will sometimes cross the line with his comments. It’s never been particularly egregious, but it’s certainly been occasionally line-crossing nonetheless.
The latest awkward moment courtesy of SAS came on the Tuesday, June 18 episode of First Take, following the decisive Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals.
While discussing Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic — who has often been on the receiving end of criticism about the shape he’s in — Smith made an analogy that included basketball analyst Andraya Carter, a rising star at ESPN, kissing snakes, and longtime co-host’s Molly Qerim’s on-set eating habits.
“It’s almost the equivalent of asking you to not kiss snakes. It’s the equivalent of asking you not to eat during commercial breaks. You can ask Molly to do a lot of different things — asking her to fast and don’t eat? That’s going to be a problem for her. She’s going to eat between commercial breaks. It’s what she does!” Smith said.
“Grown woman!” Qerim interjected. “Proud of it. Not a little girl!”
Stephen A in a room with three other people and manages to make all of them horribly uncomfortable in just 20 seconds. It's an art form at this point
• Andraya Carter with a world class eye roll
• Molly with a wicked snap back
• Windy with the OH SHIT look pic.twitter.com/xR9gJJZqp4— Trysta Krick 🔥 (@Trysta_Krick) June 18, 2024
Stephen A. Smith on Luka Dončić's unwillingness to address the flaws in his game: "It's almost the equivalent of asking [Andraya Carter] not to kiss snakes. It's almost the equivalent of asking [Molly Qerim] not to eat during commercial breaks. You can ask Molly to do a lot of… pic.twitter.com/LFWDWwGFy5
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 18, 2024
Depending on how malicious your sense of humor is, an underrated messed up and/or funny part of this video is that as Stephen A. is talking about eating, the camera first cuts to Brian Windhorst and not Qerim or a wide shot.
While Smith’s comments about Carter are confusing, he’s referring to the fact that Carter is an admitted “snake person” who once brought a snake on his podcast and kissed it.