Mediaite’s Winner and Loser of the Day

THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images.

MEDIA WINNER: Stephen A. Smith 

A big media split like Max Kellerman’s divorce from Stephen A. Smith’s First Take was bound to be met with rumors of behind-the-scenes turmoil between the two ESPN stars.

But when public media break ups are announced, it’s rare for those rumors to be realized as factual. Give Smith a ton of credit for not hiding. He didn’t think Kellerman fit the direction of First Take anymore and he’s not afraid to admit it.

Smith could have tried to BS the audience and tell them Kellerman left for a bigger, better, more lucrative opportunity. But speaking to Hot 97’s Ebro Darden and Peter Rosenberg, Smith didn’t sugarcoat the reality.

“The rumor’s accurate in terms of me wanting him off the show,” Smith said of Kellerman. It “was not a great partnership anymore and that was something that needed to change,” he added.

Smith is the undisputed leader of First Take. He’s been there for nearly a decade and built it into his show. After five years with Kellerman, Smith wanted change and he didn’t pass the blame onto ESPN or anyone else.

Smith sells his brand as being unequivocally honest. According to the 53-year-old face of ESPN, he doesn’t shy away from controversy and he’s never afraid to give an opinion. Smith’s marketed honesty was never more evident than his admission of wanting Kellerman off First Take.

MEDIA LOSER: Ben Shapiro

The Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro has declared war on President Joe Biden’s new vaccine policies, telling the Fox & Friends audience that his company would “use every method and resource at our disposal to defy the president’s unconstitutional order.”

While Shapiro himself is vaccinated, he still called Biden’s plans “tyrannical, authoritarian, anti-science bullsh*t.”

The blunt reality is that every member of the conservative media who, like Shapiro, declares vaccine mandates are “anti-science” or frames refusing vaccines as a victory for the cause of liberty is encouraging their fellow Americans to needlessly refuse a lifesaving medical innovation.

Shapiro can’t even be consistent with his own past comments. In a 2015 Townhall column titled “Anti-Vaccine Fanatics Kill,” he attacked the “junk science” of anti-vaxxers, and voiced his support for a number of mandatory vaccines so that herd immunity could protect those who were too young or medically vulnerable to be vaccinated.

Oh, but back then the anti-vaxxers were mostly on the left, led by Hollywood celebrities like Jenny McCarthy. Shapiro’s opposition to Biden’s vaccine mandates isn’t principled or pro-science, it’s just plain partisan. And Americans will die because of him and others pushing similar messages.

Read the full Mediaite Green Room Newsletter here.

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