Stephen A. Smith Adamantly Rejects Kanye West Lumping Him In With Kyrie Irving And Herschel Walker: ‘I Am Not in the Same Boat’
Stephen A. Smith tried to distance himself from rapper Kanye West‘s comparison to Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving and Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker.
West threatened to go “death con three on Jewish people,” and his comments lost his sponsorship and endorsement deal with companies. Adidas dropped its partnership with West, and he also had two high-profile athletes leave his sports agency.
On Sunday, West posted headshots of Smith, Irving, and Walker. Irving made a controversial tweet with a clip from the film, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.” The film had numerous anti-Semitic tropes, and Irving got into a back-and-forth with an ESPN reporter and denied that his tweet promoted the film.
Walker had a woman claim he paid for an abortion, and another woman claim he tried to pressure her into an abortion. Walker is running as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate for Georgia.
Under the headshot of Smith, the caption read, “It’s actually some real ones still alive that ain’t afraid no more I’m with you Time to build our own so the #redmedia can never control or diminish us again.”
During Wednesday’s episode Smith’s podcast, Know Mercy, he fought off the comparison made by West and wanted nothing to do with the controversial rapper, basketball star, and Senate candidate.
“Kanye West made news for what many deemed to be his anti-Semitic remarks, and then for some reason, I don’t know what the hell this was about, he actually put me in there in the mix, sat up there, and talked about real ones like me!” Smith said.
“He put me in the same sentence as Herschel Walker, who’s running for the Senate seat in Georgia, and Kyrie Irving! Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not gonna disrespect anybody. Let me just say that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he added.
An agitated Smith explained the lack of relationship with the other three controversial guys and did not want to be associated with any of them.
“I met Kanye one time in my life, don’t know him, don’t know Herschel Walker,” Smith added. “And after last season, the way Kyrie Irving and I went at it, we’ll never speak again. And I won’t lose a speck of sleep over it. I wish him no harm; I wish nothing but the best. But I am not in the same boat as them. Let me be very, very clear.”
Smith reiterated his belief that anti-Semitism had no room in the country.
“I am against anti-Semitism,” Smith continued. “I don’t applaud it; I don’t condone it; I don’t okay it. I have nothing to do with it. There are too many people in the Jewish community that I know and respect to ever disrespect them like that. And I’ve repeatedly told y’all this on many, many occasions. If I’m not Jewish, I don’t get to define what anti-Semitism is. They get to do that. Just like I don’t want somebody coming to me telling me what I should find offensive as a black man. It’s not my place!”
Listen above via Know Mercy.
