Stephen A. Smith Responds To Call-Out From ESPN’s Monica McNutt

Another week, another media spat involving Stephen A. Smith.

Last week, Smith had some beef with Jaylen Brown, who didn’t take kindly to the ESPN personality sharing a critical report of the Boston Celtics star from an “NBA source.” But on Monday, Smith found himself in drama with one of his own colleagues.

On the latest episode of “First Take,” Smith asked guest analyst Monica McNutt to name a program that’s talked about the WNBA and women’s sports more than the show he’s hosted since 2012. McNutt countered by saying Smith could have used his platform to talk about the WNBA three years ago, well before it received a spike in popularity from Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark and the like.

All Smith could initially say to McNutt’s call-out was “Wow.” But on the latest episode of “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” he explained why McNutt’s argument didn’t sit well with him.

“You ever heard of Monica McNutt? You have now, ’cause she’s on ‘First Take’ a lot. Chiney Ogwumike, absolutely spectacular, wonderful basketball analyst, etc. — WNBA player in her own right. Ask her how it’s been to be on ‘First Take.’ How about Andraya Carter, who is a rising star in this business? How much do you think ‘First Take’ helped that? What about Kimberley Martin? What about Molly Qerim herself?

“Now, I have sat back for years and taken a lot of (expletive) from people. Some who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Some who act like they don’t know because they want to get at me. I could care less about people getting at me. I just want you to be accurate. And it is highly offensive to me when somebody implies or flat-out states — like Monica McNutt did — which was factually incorrect. I challenge anybody to find a show in sports television that discusses women issues, that discusses the WNBA or women’s sports, that highlights and profiles female analysts more than ‘First Take.’

One has to imagine this Smith-McNutt dustup be tackled more on Tuesday’s episode of “First Take,” which begins at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN.