It looked like Stephen A. Smith and Dan Le Batard had cordially settled their issues last month, but the two are going back and forth again.
Smith gave a fiery response on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" on Oct. 2 to Le Batard's claim that Smith is trying to ruin Skip Bayless' career.
"I have never been, I am not, nor will I ever be at war with Skip Bayless. That will not happen. Trying to be number one is an entirely different agenda than trying to end somebody's career. I hope and pray that Skip Bayless is on TV doing what he wants to do and talking sports for as long as he wants to do it. Do I want to beat him? Yes. I want to be anybody I'm going up against — That includes you, Dan," Smith said.
Related: Dan Le Batard makes a bold claim about Stephen A. Smith's rivalry with Skip Bayless
Smith continued by saying that success to him is being more successful than the people around him. But he said that doesn't mean that he wants other people's careers to be ruined because of his success.
"I want a lot people to win — practically everybody to win — I just want to be on top because that's what competition is," Smith said.
Smith then said he was even more frustrated by the fact that instead of making public claims, well-connected media members like Le Batard have the opportunity to find the truth themselves by reaching out.
"All of these people that want to bitch, whine, and moan, and complain about what's going on, speculating as if they know when they don't. But here's the crime — they could easily know because they're connected enough to make a phone call or two to find out but they don't want to because they want to spew that bullshit," Smith said.
Smith and Le Batard had gone back and forth over the last several months about the state of the sports media industry, with Le Batard saying that he thinks the debate show format that Smith has championed through his ESPN show "First Take" has dumbed down the viewership.
But the two spoke last month on Smith's show and seemed to cut the beef — agreeing on some points while agreeing to disagree on others.
However, Le Batard spoke on his show Sept. 27 when he made the statement that Smith is attempting to end Bayless' career. He also said that Smith's new debate partner Shannon Sharpe, who left Bayless at FS1 and joined ESPN's 'First Take' months later, has outgrown his former colleague.
But Smith wanted to clarify too that Sharpe's move to ESPN was not made in attempt to crater Bayless' show.
"In terms of taking Shannon Sharpe, I did no such thing. Shannon Sharpe departed from FS1," Smith said. "When he was gone and on the open market, that's when I came in. I didn't talk to him beforehand and try to coax him to coming to 'First Take.'
Related: Stephen A. Smith and Dan Le Batard finally face off
Smith even went as far as turning the tables on Le Batard, saying that perhaps it is Le Batard who is interested in seeing Bayless flounder.
"Now if Dan was on at the same time as Skip Bayless — I'm not sure he is, I think he is — and somebody said Dan Le Batard wants to ruin Skip's career or ends Skip's career, I'd believe that with some of the things he's said about Skip," Smith said.
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