Stephen A. Smith fires back at critics following viral Solitaire video: ‘Kiss my ass’

Stephen A. Smith will do what he pleases, particularly when it comes to playing Solitaire on his phone whenever he wants. The ESPN host was recently caught on camera playing the game during the NBA Finals while he was in attendance for the network.

Of course, critics will say he wasn’t paying attention and get flak for keeping his head down. It’s a free country and Smith is allowed to do whatever he wants.

Frankly, it seems like he does not care what others think and he even went on a lengthy rant about Solitaire. He claimed he does it all the time and he’ll play during breaks in the action, despite Twitter/X community notes pointing out otherwise. Smith has also used this as a running joke on his social media.

“I was doing what the hell I always do,” Smith said on Sirius XM NBA Radio. “And for those out there who don’t like it, kiss my ass. When I’m watching the game, I’m watching the game. If there’s a break into action, it could be a dead ball, it could be a timeout or something like that. I can play the damn thing for two seconds. Somebody is standing over me, upper deck, zooming in on my phone, watching me and saying, ‘Oh, he’s playing solitaire, he’s not focusing on the game.’

“I watch over 100 games a year. I’m on TV every morning for two hours, 10 hours live every day. And that’s just one job that don’t count, Countdown, that don’t count SportsCenter, that don’t count all the obligations that I have. And I’m sitting there and getting a little break, and I decide to play a little Solitaire, which, by the way, I always do.” 

Smith’s made more headlines for non-sports takes considering the addition of more on-air roles. He’s set to rejoin Mad Dog Sports Radio from 1-3 p.m. ET in September, joining the channel of his First Take Wednesday sparring partner Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Departed hosts Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker weren’t too pleased.

“And I mean always, if I sit up there, if there’s half time, I might go on my phone for two minutes and play solitaire at the end of the game, before a game, I do the same thing damn it,” Smith said. “I work too damn hard, too long, too many hours to be wondering, to be worried about what people think I’m doing for 30 seconds. They can kiss off. I ain’t worried about it. It’s what I do. I do what I do.”