Legendary boxing announcer Jim Lampley has largely avoided having a presence on any social media platform, but he’s heard what ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had to say about his former First Take co-host Max Kellerman and isn’t a fan of airing things out publicly.
In an interview on Covino & Rich on FOX Sports Radio last week in Las Vegas, Lampley was asked if Stephen A. was being unfair in what he said on The Joe Budden Podcast about how their run on First Take came to an end.
“I hate the world of social media, and I’m not afraid to say it,” Lampley said prefacing his point about Smith. “I hate the degree to which personal conflicts have now risen to important public discussion and are a part of the business landscape and the editorial landscape of our lives.”
Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman worked together on boxing broadcasts at HBO for 11 years. Jim added that he has met Stephen A. Smith previously and hasn’t had a bad experience with him.
“I don’t have any particular ax to grind against him except to promote and publicize his professional antipathy for Max,” he said. “To me, it’s out of bounds, and I’m very disturbed at what happened to Max.”
Kellerman has remained out of the public eye since being announced as part of the mass layoffs over the summer at ESPN. In an interview with The Messenger, Jim Lampley said the whole thing, including Max’s departure from ESPN, hasn’t sat well with him.
“I have lost sleep about it,” Lampley said. “I have genuinely lost sleep about what has happened to Max and I can honestly say I don’t understand any of it. I never lost sleep over what happened to me but I have lost sleep about what has happened to Max. It’s not right.”
“I stayed away from ESPN and everything that has happened there leads me to believe that at least for my constitution and for my personal happiness, I made the right choice,” he added.
But with Steve Covino and Rich Davis, Lampley wished Smith had just kept his thoughts and feelings private.
“The world of the Stephen A. Smith’s and the people who are using social media and various other ancillary forms of dialogue to create and benefit from personal rivalries, I don’t like it,” he said.
