ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has received criticism since his Friday appearance on Dan Le Batard’s South Beach Sessions show, during which Le Batard blamed Smith and his former First Take co-host, Skip Bayless, for their prioritization of arguing about sports for the sake of entertainment and how that approach has influenced sports television.
Smith responded by taking shots at Le Batard and ended by asking, “When did it occur in my career that I ignored the journalistic tenets that came with the job?”
“Oh, it’s not ignoring them,” Le Batard answered. “It’s that they shrink in the face of the need for the argument as entertainment.”
