Stephen A. Smith: 'I Could Be Next' In ESPN Layoff Purge

Ron Dicker
Updated ·2 min read
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Stephen A. Smith, arguably the face of ESPN, said even he isn’t safe amid prominent layoffs by the sports network. (Watch the video below.)

“This ain’t the end,” he said on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” on Monday. “More is coming. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, I could be next.”

While the departures spanned gender and race to a certain extent, Smith addressed Black viewers specifically.

“Let me tell y’all something,” he said, closing his laptop for dramatic effect. “Don’t ever, ever, ever in your life as a Black person take anything for granted. I told you before ... when white folks catch a cold, Black folks catch pneumonia.”

Smith noted ESPN’s jettisoning of Jeff Van Gundy, David Pollack and Todd McShay, who are white. “You didn’t think Black folks is going to be on the list, too? That’s always the case.”

“I’m never comfortable,” he added. “I never take anything for granted. I never assume that I’m safe.”

Others who were let go include Max Kellerman, Jalen Rose, Keyshawn Johnson, Suzy Kolber and Ashley Brewer.

Smith, the star of “First Take,” reportedly makes $8 million a year in regular salary plus $4 million in a production contract for the sports network (he denies the figure) but noted that he is about to be outearned by incoming ESPN hire Pat McAfee’s reported $17 million a year, Sports Illustrated reported.

“It’s no secret that even though you don’t know the numbers that I make, even though I’m sure a lot of you think you know, it’s clearly more than I’m making,” Smith said in early June.

“I don’t give a damn,” he added about the money differential. “He negotiated his deal a few weeks ago. I negotiated my deal a few years ago. The situation is not the same. I’m a big boy. I’ve been to hell and back. This does not faze me at all. Pat McAfee deserves it.”

In the meantime, some fans on Twitter weren’t buying that Smith’s job was in jeopardy.

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