Stephen A. Smith is opening up about the ESPN layoffs that saw about 20 on-air personalities become redundant at the sports network.
“ESPN laid off about 20 members of its on-air talent … friends of mine, actually, definitely respected colleagues who’d done a phenomenal job and deserved better,” the sports analyst said on The Stephen A. Smith Show. “It’s not Disney or ESPN that they deserved better from, they deserved better than the times we’re living in.”
Smith, who co-hosts First Take con ESPN, gave a shoutout to Jalen Rose saying that he had been doing an “outstanding job for us covering the NBA for years.”
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“Got a lot of love for that brother,” he added. “A lot of the great work he’s done over the years, what he’s represented for the company… I’m going to miss him. Jalen Rose has always been good to me and I loved working with him on NBA Countdown. He is a brilliant basketball mind, he is somebody that worked his ass off all the time. There was never an assignment he backed away from, there was never a time he didn’t want to work.”
Smith also name-dropped former NBA coach and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy saying, “Jeff was an outstanding, brilliant basketball analyst for ESPN for years. I could say I’m gonna miss him, but I just can’t imagine he’s gonna be out of work for long. I’m sure I’ll see him on-air doing his thing. He’s been a Hall of Fame analyst and commentator.”
As he mentioned his colleagues, Smith also said that these would not be the only layoffs at ESPN.
“If we’re going to be real about it, let’s deal with reality. This ain’t the end, more is coming,” he said. “And yes, ladies and gentlemen, I could be next.”
Other personalities that were let go from their duties at ESPN included Max Kellerman, Keyshawn Johnson, Matt Hasselbeck, Chris Chelios, Steve Young, Rob Ninkovich, Neil Everett, Ashley Brewer, Joon Lee, LaPhonso Ellis, Todd McShay and Jason Fitz.
Watch Smith addressing the ESPN layoffs in the video posted below.