Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Stephen A. Smith apologizes for comments about Shohei Ohtani

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jul 12, 2021 7:51 PM ET

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith received widespread criticism online from baseball supporters and others within the sports community after he suggested earlier on Monday that Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani couldn't be the face of MLB because he uses an interpreter:

Stephen A Smith sucks pic.twitter.com/LZKQVTqIzp
— Fuzzy (@fuzzyfromyt) July 12, 2021

Smith then managed to make the situation worse when he attempted to explain his stance:

On my earlier comments about Ohtani pic.twitter.com/FM0vnDDXBB
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 12, 2021

Roughly two hours before the start of Monday's Home Run Derby that will feature Ohtani, Smith shared a lengthy apology via Twitter:

I'm sincerely sorry. pic.twitter.com/pANjWTrD4X
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 12, 2021

As Liz Roscher of Yahoo Sports noted, Twitter users flocked to the service to lash out at Smith, and former ESPN star Keith Olbermann called for the Worldwide Leader to suspend the "First Take" commentator.

Olbermann also spoke about the matter via a video that contains some not-safe-for-work language.

As of Monday evening, it was unknown if ESPN planned to punish Smith for his controversial remarks.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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