Michael Irvin made his first appearance this week on Undisputed with Skip Bayless, and among those who were elated to see the hall of famer back on TV was Stephen A. Smith.
On his podcast The Stephen A. Smith Show on Wednesday, Smith talked about how much love he had for Irvin and Keyshawn Johnson, who also joined the program starting this week.
Irvin made his first appearance on television since Super Bowl week in Phoenix back in February. He faced accusations of inappropriate conduct toward a hotel employee.
Stephen A said he was going to reiterate something that might be considered unpopular, and that is that he’s in Irvin’s corner.
“I think it’s a travesty what happened to Michael Irvin over the last few months,” Stephen A. said. “There was a woman – allegedly supposedly whether it was her or the company itself – that accused him of saying something inappropriate or whatever the case may be. The NFL, meaning the NFL Network, sent Michael Irvin home from the Super Bowl. Pulled him from their coverage.
“That was bad enough, but for him have an accusation levied against him that ultimately jeopardized his career? And to this day all we’ve seen is a 45-second video of him conversing with a young lady in the lobby and then walking away. And she walked away. We have no audio. We have no accusations that extend beyond that specific experience. For him to be off the airwaves since February, to be off the airwaves that long and to have his job in jeopardy – his future in jeopardy – is a travesty.”
Smith went on to say that it gave him pause to think that what appeared to be a harmless interaction nearly cost Michael Irvin a career in television.
“I have to admit to you as a Black man that it was incredibly scary,” he said. “And it’s something that I articulated to some folks in positions of power at various networks who will remain nameless. When I came to the defense of Michael Irvin, I hesitated because again we didn’t have all the facts. And I said, ‘OK well let’s see it.'”
“But when week after week and month after month went by and not a damn piece of evidence came forward I said, ‘Wait a minute,'” Smith added. “So somebody who doesn’t happen to be Black, who is a female gets to stand before a black man for 45 seconds, nobody hears what they said to one another. He didn’t touch her other than to shake her hand if that. And they walked away from each other, and that’s all it takes for this man to lose his career? What the hell does that say about the rest of us?”
