Stephen A. Smith said his podcast audience had been waiting for him to speak on Shannon Sharpe’s viral interview with comedian Katt Williams, and on Monday Stephen A. obliged.
Smith dedicated a segment of The Stephen A. Smith Show to speak life into Sharpe, who in his follow-up podcast with Chad Ochocinco responded to feedback from viewers suggesting that he should’ve asked more pressing follow-up questions on several topics Williams addressed.
“I never said I was a journalist. I never professed to be a journalist. I’m an entertainer,” Sharpe said in a clip from Nightcap with Unc & Ocho. “If you want hard-hitting questions, 60 Minutes is the platform for you. Dateline, 48 Hours. Go to Lester Holt. Go to somebody that does that.”
Stephen A. said technically Shannon Sharpe wasn’t wrong in saying he isn’t a journalist. But Shannon denigrated himself in the way he said he was an entertainer.
“He’s a Hall of Fame football player who’s a three-time Super Bowl champion, arguably the greatest tight end in football – and clearly one of them – who also happens to be an entertainer,” Smith said. “He did not tell a lie.”
“But Shannon Sharpe cut himself short,” Stephen A. added. “Shannon Sharpe is a voice in our community. He’s Unc. He’s conscientious, he’s thoughtful. I’m telling you the Shannon Sharpe I’ve come to know. I’ve known him for years, but I ain’t really know him. I love this brother. I love who he is. I got a hell of a lot of respect for him.”
Smith said when Sharpe was forced out from his seat opposite Skip Bayless on FS1 last summer, he was worried that Shannon would be blackballed from TV. He knew he had to get Shannon on First Take for good reason.
“I went and GOT HIM, ’cause I knew what he’d bring,” Smith said.
Stephen A. also felt empathy for Sharpe and recalled back to his 2009 firing from ESPN. He felt like Shannon was too gifted and too talented to not be on the number one show on the network. But Smith said it was bigger than that even.
“He’s too significant to our community. That’s why I’m bringing all of this up,” Smith said. “It’s not about me. This is his day. He’s the one that got the Katt Williams interview. He’s the one that sat down and talked to him. He did all of that.”
Stephen A. Smith continued saying that Sharpe slapping an entertainer label on himself was too limiting.
“He’s more than that. He’s a voice, and when he called himself an entertainer, that took me aback. Cause I know he’s not,” he said.
“You don’t have to be a journalist. All you need to do is be you and be that conscientious observer that you are,” Smith added.
