News/Commentary

Stephen A Smith rips colleague who called him racist slur for defending Cowboys owner over decades-old photo

December 1, 2022 | | Print Article

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith is fighting back with fists raised high after being called a “coon” by one of his colleagues for the apparent crime of defending Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager Jerry Jones.

Jones is currently under fire over a picture from 1957 showing him, then a teenage boy, watching as a group of other white boys block black students from entering Arkansas’ North Little Rock High School.

“In a photograph taken at the scene, Jones could be seen standing a few yards from where the six Black students were being jostled and repelled with snarling racial slurs by ringleaders of the mob,” The Washington Post, which broke the story, reported late last month.

“At one point, a Black student named Richard Lindsey recalled, someone in the crowd put a hand on the back of his neck. A voice behind him said, ‘I want to see how a ni–er feels.’ The ruffian hostility succeeded in turning away the would-be new enrollees,” the report continued.

The photo predictably provoked massive backlash against Jones, prompting Smith to rush to his defense.

“I’m pretty pissed off. I’m pissed off but not for reasons people think. I am very, very fond of Jerry Jones, and I’m not hiding that from anybody. Is his record perfect? No, but I’m pissed off because he doesn’t deserve what just happened. He doesn’t deserve it. One report, our report, said he was 14 years old. Another report said he was 15 years old. At minimum that’s 65 years ago,” he said last Friday.

“You gonna bring up a photo of Jerry Jones standing at this protest, no question what was happening, it’s not something that anybody as a black person should be appreciative about. We had six students at that particular North Little Rock high school that was trying to desegregate the school. Nobody should be OK with that, we understand that, we get all of that. … Racism is alive and well, bigotry and prejudice is alive and well. We get all of that, but you gonna bring up a photo of him when he was 14, 15 years old? Sixty-five or 66 years ago,” he continued.

Smith added that what was happening to Jones was a form of “cancel culture,” particularly considering that he was only 14 when the photo was snapped.

“If he were an adult, that would be different,” he said.

Listen:

Now fast-forward to Monday, when known far-left bigot and race hustler Bishop Talbert Swan retweeted Smith’s tweet from above and added a video clip of raccoon characters from a movie.

Swan basically called Smith a “coon,” a slur used to denigrate black men and women who don’t toe the line.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, one of Smith’s colleagues, ESPN sportscaster Mark Jones, then reportedly liked the nasty tweet from Swan.

Look:

Smith did not take kindly to this insult.

Speaking this Tuesday morning on his podcast, “First Take,” he slammed his critics — without naming names — for throwing around slurs instead of pursuing meaningful dialogue.

“Y’all wanna attack everybody! Why don’t we listen to one another? I’m not friends with Candace Owens, I never met her a day in my life. But if you disagree with something she said, tell us what it is and why rather than saying ‘She a sellout!’ That’s easy, why? Let’s educate ourselves. Why would you think that? Why? Argue her facts,” he said.

Owens, a conservative commentator, has also been smeared as a “coon” by Swan.

“You want to criticize me and what my positions are, I’m good with that. Y’all tell me why. If you’re right, I’ll say so. You know how hard it is for me to listen to people that have worked in this industry for years with the stuff I know about them, listening to them and their drivel talking nonsense about me?” he continued.

“They ain’t do a damn thing to help our community! I put my career on the line everyday fighting for us. And we’re gonna go out like that? Because I don’t agree with y’all position on a still photo from 66 years ago. Really? We better wake up y’all,” Smith added.

Listen:

Smith also defended Jones again — this time from the argument that he’s obliged to do something about modern racism because of what happened in 1957.

“Is that his obligation? He owns a football team. He employs a multitude of people…You know how many folks are employed by the Dallas Cowboys organization who happens to be minority? What exactly is he supposed to do…what’s his obligation?” he said.

However, by defending himself, Smith has attracted even more criticism — this time from the general public.

Look:

Vivek Saxena
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