Many people have called for Ryan Clark to be fired by ESPN in the wake of the comments the former NFL player made about Robert Griffin III, and Stephen A. Smith has now shared some of his thoughts on the subject.
Clark and Griffin have been feuding since RG3 shared his opinion that Angel Reese “hates” Caitlin Clark after seeing the way Reese reacted to a hard foul from Clark during Saturday’s Indiana Fever-Chicago Sky game. Ryan Clark said he feels that Griffin is unqualified to say that about Reese because Griffin is married to a white woman and therefore does not understand black women like Reese.
A report on Tuesday claimed some of Clark’s ESPN colleagues believe he crossed the line and want to see him disciplined. Smith weighed in during the latest episode of his self-titled show, which was released on Wednesday.
While Smith admitted that he felt Clark “crossed the line,” he said any talk of Clark being fired is ridiculous.
“I don’t want to hear sh– about Ryan Clark getting fired. I don’t want to hear that,” Smith said, as transcribed by Reice Shipley of Awful Announcing. “Ryan Clark is my colleague, he is my friend and brother. He is a good man and a good brother. There is no way on earth that I would be quiet if he was fired over something like this. I’m not saying he’s right, and I’ll get into that in a second. But this is not a fireable offense.”
Smith also suggested that Clark and Griffin have a history that has played a role in their beef.
“I love my man RC. I thought he crossed the line when he brought up you, RGIII, being married not once but twice to white women,” Smith added. “But he don’t like your a–. That might have had something to do with it.
“I’m not condoning him doing that. I’m not condoning him bringing that up. If RC and I had spoke about it in-depth, I would have told him don’t go there. There’s no need for all of that. But I want to emphasize something very important. RGIII, he never attacked your wife. He never attacked your family. He was attacking you, and you know it.”
Smith believes there is a difference between Clark mentioning how Griffin is married to a white woman and actually saying something negative about RG3’s wife. The longtime analyst also did not appreciate Griffin saying Clark’s comments are a “bad look” for ESPN, as Smith believes that was RG3’s way of trying to get the network to take action against Clark.
Neither Clark not Griffin have backed down from anything they have said. One of Clark’s former teammates suggested Clark’s comments were hypocritical since Clark has a child with a white woman. Clark issued a response to that on Wednesday as well.
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