SC6 remains one of the most divisive experiments in ESPN history. Viewers had strong opinions on both sides of Michael Smith and Jemele Hill’s take on the iconic SportsCenter brand, with most detractors saying that discussions of race and culture made the show too political.
Smith will be a guest on fubo Sports Network’s Drinks With Binks on this week. Host Julie Stewart-Binks said that she never saw SC6’s conversations as political. “It was morals and how you treat people,” she said and asked Smith how he felt watching ESPN personalities have the same conversations that the network pointed to as a major problem for his show.
“At first, it was a lot of anger about that, because it was like ‘Wait a second. I’m old enough to remember 2018. If Black Lives Matter now, they didn’t matter then?’” Smith said. “I’m watching, and it’s nothing against the people doing it now, they’re friends of mine. I’m watching people I respect, I’m watching them have unfiltered, unlimited, unedited conversations on the same platforms, whether it’s you know SportsCenter or The Jump or NFL Live, like everybody’s having that conversation. I’m like ‘Oh, word? Wow! Having those conversations literally compromised my career, but it’s cool now?’”.
Many of the Black Lives Matter conversations we have heard in pop culture in 2020 began after the killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers. Smith says that the conversation is no different from the ones he and Hill had. That was disappointing for him.
“Unarmed black people have been getting killed on camera. That’s what we were talking about. We were talking about police brutality. It’s not like anything is different now. It’s not like it’s a different subject matter. It’s not like there is a different take on the matter. There’s been no discovery that makes us feel like ‘Well, now this is different.’ This is literally the same subject. He was just killed in a different manner. I was like ‘So now it’s cool? Less than 2 years ago it wasn’t and I’m a living example of that?’”
Smith says he has since made peace with how SC6 ended and has accepted that the rules are just different now. It took time, but he says he is at a place now where he sees that as a good thing.
“There was a lot of resentment at first just given what I’ve been through,” he told Stewart-Binks. “But over time I realized yeah, I’m entitled to my feelings and I’m trying not to make it about me. And the most important thing is look, better late than never. And here we are having these conversations. More important, others who came behind me are getting a chance to speak their truth and speak that truth to power. So be it.”
The interview was pre-recorded. It will air in full on Friday night at 8 pm on fubo Sports Network’s Drinks with Binks.
