Dan Le Batard listened to Stephen A. Smith’s defense of ESPN and gave his response.
Le Batard went on his podcast, “The Dan Le Batard Show,” on Monday, July 17, and listened to an excerpt from Smith’s 25-minute monologue from last week defending the sports network the two used to share.
He prefaced his reaction by confirming that he and Smith, who were former colleagues at ESPN, are friends, echoing Smith’s sentiments.
“[Smith] is hungrier than anyone I’ve ever met in this business about accruing, and whatever’s next for him is going to be giant,” Le Batard said. “I consider him a friend and I’m impressed by him.”
DON’T MISS: Stephen A. Smith Passionately Defends ESPN Against Criticism
But Le Batard followed by saying he doesn’t like what sports debate shows have done to sports media, including ESPN’s “First Take,” which is championed by Smith.
“I don’t like what he’s done with sports television, I think he’s helped make it dumber,” Le Batard said. "This has bothered him that I said this to him the last time we talked, and I would like to talk to him in the future, in a way that is conversational and not performative, about how dumb sports debate television has made everything.”
Le Batard and his team proceeded to listen to about a minute and a half of Smith’s speech, chuckling at the showmanship of the fiery commentator.
Smith’s comments included objections to former ESPN employees talking down against an employer that was “once good enough to take money from.” Le Batard responded to that by saying he was always critical of the network’s coverage, even when he was under the umbrella of The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) -) network.
But Le Batard stressed that the strongest objection from Smith wasn’t actually directed at something Le Batard had said.
“His problem’s not actually with me,” Le Batard said. “It’s with what Jemele Hill said on our platform, and this is more complicated, because I’m a much easier target for him to put a name on than going after the Black female that he also respects.”
Hill has been a guest on “The Dan Le Batard Show,” but Le Batard referred to her appearance in 2021 when she spoke about the controversy surrounding former ESPN hosts Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor. Hill had her gripes with the network’s management for how they treated her as someone who was very outspoken against former president Donald Trump.
“They wanted Black faces, they didn’t want, necessarily, Black voices,” Jemele Hill, the former ESPN host, said during an interview on “The Dan Le Batard” show in July 2021.
Le Batard said he understands why Stephen A. Smith would have a problem with Hill’s sentiments given that Smith is still one of the faces of the network, but reiterated that he should take that up with Hill.
But Le Batard and his producers Mike Ryan Ruiz and Jeremy Taché reiterated their criticisms of Smith’s network, particularly with the debate show format that they believe is plaguing sports media. Taché even compared it to the way news outlets like CNN have embraced the debate show format to drive consumer interest.”
“ESPN was a certain journalistic thing, and then it became this dumber thing that has less journalism in it,” Le Batard said. “But it works. Of course -- feed the dumb people.”
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