Sports media has been buzzing over the few days after Stephen A. Smith put out a 40-minute rant about former ESPN colleague Jason Whitlock.
Smith and Whitlock have been butting heads for a while, but the "First Take" host had refused to acknowledge Whitlock by name in public spheres despite constant attacks from the latter.
Whitlock, who hosts a program called "Fearless" on a conservative sports media outlet called "Blaze Media," has accused Smith of many things, including saying he did not write his own memoir and that he could "expose" Smith's new colleague Shannon Sharpe for his exit from FS1.
Related: Stephen A. Smith makes indirect jab at Jason Whitlock in latest rant
Smith finally addressed Whitlock by name in his scathing monologue, calling him "the worst human being any of you will ever meet" among other things.
One of the notable parts of the monologue was when Smith talked about Whitlock's time at ESPN in 2015 when then president John Skipper asked him to launch Undefeated, which is now known as Andscape, a publication that covers sports from the perspective of race and culture.
Smith said that there were several writers who did not want to join when Whitlock was tasked to lead the team.
"We got Jemele Hill, we got Howard Bryant — you want me to pull up the other writers that wouldn't work for you?" Smith said. "What a disgrace you were to John Skipper."
Skipper is the former ESPN president who put Whitlock in charge of Undefeated. He now runs Meadowlark Media together with Dan Le Batard, who was also mentioned by Smith as someone that Whitlock "turned his back on."
Le Batard gave his two cents on Whitlock on "The Dan Le Batard Show" on Jan. 11.
Le Batard seemed genuinely bothered about the situation, saying he "had cared" about Whitlock, and said that he even checked on Whitlock as recently as last month to "see if he's okay" because of their past relationship.
"My family knows Jason Whitlock, my brother spent time with Jason Whitlock, and we were friends," Le Batard said. "I don't want to turn this into a defense of Jason Whitlock because he's made me super angry. I have friends who if they saw him, they would beat him up in the street."
But Le Batard revealed that he actually vouched for Whitlock to Skipper because he believed in Whitlock's ability as a writer.
Related: Dan Le Batard gives another eye-opening speech on Stephen A. Smith
"I used Skipper's telephone number once the entire time I worked there, and it's cause Jason Whitlock asked me to vouch for him," Le Batard said. "Eight or nine months later, Whitlock called me in tears because it had all fallen apart and Skipper had to fire him very, very quickly."
Le Batard revealed this while he as having a conversation with Hill, who confirmed what Smith said that she was asked by Whitlock to join Undefeated.
"When Undefeated started — [Whitlock] reached out to a bunch of us to see if we wanted to work with the Undefeated," Hill said. "At one point, I would've considered us to be friends and that dissolved for a number of reasons ... but by that time, we wouldn't even acknowledge each other in the same room on that level. And he reached out to me and he apologized and said that it was a bad look to have two black people in opposition and that he would like me to do some work for the Undefeated."
Hill ultimately declined the offer.
"When he emailed me and asked me to work with him, and he sort of said, like, hey, you know, we need to bury whatever is between us. I wished him well and said, 'No, thank you,'" Hill said. "I thought that it was such as a terrible idea for Skipper to hire him to do this."
Turns out, Skipper's newest partner Le Batard is actually a major reason why Whitlock got the role.
"I feel like you owe us some reparations for that," Hill joked.
Get exclusive access to portfolio managers’ stock picks and proven investing strategies with Real Money Pro. Get started now.
