By Brian Hews July 13, 2021
Nice insincere apology, now don’t let the door hit you in the ass. I hope Mickey Mouse fires you personally.
In a segment on ESPN’s morning talk show “First Take,” Smith said Monday that Ohtani, the L.A. Angels sensation who has drawn comparisons to Babe Ruth, couldn’t be the face of the sport because he uses an interpreter.
“I understand that baseball is an international sport itself in terms of participation, but when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube or to the ballpark, to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the number one face is a dude that needs an interpreter, so you can understand what the hell he’s saying in this country,” he said on the show.
Smith then doubled down on his xenophobic rant and “clarified” his comments in a video Monday afternoon, saying that he was “talking about the marketability and the promotion of the sport” — drawing more ire on social media, including from his fellow colleagues.
“In the United States, when you’re a superstar, if you could speak the English language, guess what, that’s going to make it that much easier (and) less challenging to promote the sport,” Smith said.
Some of baseball’s brightest and most talented stars — Fernando Tatis Jr., Ronald Acuna Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., — don’t speak English as their first language, but that did not stop Smith.
Smith said that if Bryce Harper was doing what Ohtani is doing, “we might be talking about baseball five days a week.”
He then continued his rant insisting “that English isn’t hard to learn and said that he hasn’t watched a single Angels game all season.” How can you be an analyst if you have not watched Ohtani play?
The racist commentator then left nothing on the table, “when Barry Bonds was smacking home runs, or Mark McGwire, I was transfixed on the tube.”
I guess taking banned substances to hit home runs is OK with Stephen if they speak English.
Some ESPN analysts were not happy either:
His apology, just like his racist personality was half-hearted; he didn’t specifically apologize to Ohtani or the Asian community.
Stephen Smith just made another rascist comment tonite at the Cavs pregame. He said he supports black coaches in the NBA. If a white man said the reverse he would be fired. I would watch ESPN if he was fired!