As is generally the case with his takes, Stephen A. Smith isn’t backing down from his Jerry Jones comments.
The longtime ESPN talking head and co-host of Audacy’s “Know Mercy” podcast made waves for his response to a controversial photo unearthed by the Washington Post in a report on Jones' track record with race in the NFL. The photo shows a 14-year-old Jones on the steps of a high school in Arkansas in 1957, where a group of kids were attempting to prevent the desegregation of the school by blocking the entrance to Black students.
Jones was near the back of the crowd, and the Cowboys owner has claimed that he was just a “curious kid” who was unaware of the gravity of what was unfolding in front of him. Responding to the photo on First Take last month, Smith invoked the “cancel culture” argument.
“You’re going to bring up a photo of him when he was 14, 15 years old? Sixty-five or sixty-six years ago?" Smith said. "This is where cancel culture gets into the mix. You’re making an attempt to eradicate him, what he stands for and all he has done.”
Those comments were met with some backlash. Appearing Monday on the “Big Tigger Morning Show,” Smith said he doesn’t care.
“Well, they need to get over it," Smith said of his critics. "C’mon man, you’ve known me for years, I don’t know why these folks would think that’s going to make me back up. I don’t give a damn. The fact of the matter is I feel the way that I feel.
“Let’s understand something about this -- and this was the message that I sent. So since a lot of folks didn’t want to comprehend it, and I don’t understand why because obviously we’re highly intelligent individuals, the bottom line is this: If you don’t want to understand it’s because you don’t want to."
Smith then doubled down on his take.
“Jerry Jones is 80 years old, he was brought up pre-Civil Rights age," Smith said. "My point was, you have a still picture of him standing there, and that’s all you have. Do you really, from 66 years earlier, do you really, really want to go there? Do you want to go there? Now, if he’s seen in somebody’s face, if he’s seen spitting at them or hitting at them or whatever the case may be, that’s a different animal.
“But if a still picture of you doing absolutely nothing but standing in a crowd is enough to incriminate you from 66 years earlier, and that’s what you think is going to harm a billionaire, well what do you think is in store for us? What kind of ammunition could be used against us down the line?
“Those are the things that I bring up when I talk about opening the pandora’s box. Because my mom said, as y’all both have known because you’ve known me for years, I’ve always said this: When white folks catch a cold, black folks catch pneumonia.”
Part of the criticism directed at Smith has been that he’s responded to the Jones and Kyrie Irving situations differently.
Irving was suspended by the Nets after repeatedly refusing to denounce anti-Semitism. He faced questions about his values after he posted about the documentary "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America," which is filled with anti-Semitic propaganda, on social media.
Smith pushed back on criticism of his response to Irving.
“I’ve been very critical of Kyrie Irving, right up until the moment these folks tried to come and put forth stipulations upon his return," Smith said. "And the same person that called Kyrie out for the nonsense that he’s engaged in in the years since he’s been in Brooklyn, is the same dude that came to his defense. That would be me.
“I’m the one that went on national TV and was like ‘Yo, this is BS. Y’all are going too damn far. I know what you’re doing white America, where’s the consistency with how you treat people? You don’t do this to anybody else, what are you trying to do this to Kyrie Irving for?’ That would be me, I did that.
“So again, everybody got their emotions, I have facts, I have receipts. It’s on camera, it’s all there.”
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