Smith Drops the Blunt Truth on Antivax Athletes. Cuomo Under Fire. | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2021

Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images.

MEDIA WINNER: Stephen A. Smith

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has a simple solution for the Golden State Warriors if their star forward Andrew Wiggins won’t get vaccinated. Trade him.

“They should trade Andrew Wiggins today. Period. Get rid of him, send him some place else. This is not a hard decision for me,” Smith said bluntly.

If Wiggins didn’t get vaccinated, Smith continued, he “would not be able to play in 41 home games for the Golden State Warriors,” so “what do you need him for? What good is he for you?”

Smith slammed the “bad situation” in the NBA where the coaches, medical personnel, and staff all had to be vaccinated, but the league had been unable to reach an agreement with the players’ union.

He’s been consistent in this criticism, pointing out how many athletes take all sorts of nutritional supplements but are unreasonably refusing vaccines that have now been proven safe in millions of people.

Tom Brady and LeBron James are vaccinated. Wiggins can’t seriously claim those guys don’t care what they put in their bodies. Smith’s words were harsh, but logically sound.

MEDIA LOSER: Chris Cuomo

There are a lot of jokes we could write about the Cuomo Bros. here but honestly, we’re just fed up with the seemingly endless list of powerful men who keep being creepy jerks.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo, already dealing with the controversy around advising his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), on how to handle a series of sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, now has his own accuser, who went on the record in a scathing New York Times op-ed.

Shelley Ross, Cuomo’s former boss at ABC News, described how Cuomo had walked up to her at an Upper West Side bar in 2005 and gave her “a strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmly grab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock.” She added that Cuomo, “with a cocky arrogance,” told her that he could “do this now” that she was no longer his boss. Cuomo emailed her an hour later to apologize, saying he was “ashamed.”

The whole sordid tale must sound very familiar to the women who were harassed by Cuomo’s “Love Gov” brother: a powerful man ignoring boundaries and insisting he’s just being “friendly.”

Hugs are friendly. Grabbing your former boss’ butt is not. This isn’t complicated.

Read the full Mediaite Green Room Newsletter here.