Former MLB pitcher and current NESN analyst Jonathan Papelbon didn’t hold back about his feelings on ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith.
Papelbon was firing back at Smith for comments the noted hot take artist made on “First Take” this week where Smith criticized Mike Trout over a meniscus tear that the Angels star had suffered.
The comments were not well-received, but Papelbon took it to another level, labeling Smith a “racist,” as well as “xenophobic” and a “fake person” while claiming he had been banned from the Phillies clubhouse during Smith’s days with the Philadelphia Inquirer in the late 2000s.
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“That’s not what the game needs,” Papelbon said while appearing on “Foul Territory” on Thursday. “Everybody wants to tune into the media, I get it. But at the end of the day, you have to be responsible for the s–t that you say. And unless ESPN holds him accountable for the stupid s–t that he says, guess what? He’s going to keep doing it.”
The former major leaguer later claimed that he was told by a clubhouse attendant that Smith had been banned from the clubhouse after he was allegedly caught snooping through the manager’s office and the trainer’s room.
“I’ve always looked at this guy like a complete joke, and really shady,” Papelbon said. “When you get kicked out of a major league clubhouse, you should never be able to be a journalist ever again.”
Jonathan Papelbon criticized Stephen A. Smith’s recent comments about Mike Trout. Screengrab
The attacks didn’t end there, with Papelbon going on to call the ESPN personality “more narcissistic than Donald Trump” and “the most narcissistic people you could come across.”
So what is Papelbon’s suggestion for reigning in some of the things that Smith says on air?
“I challenge ESPN to do something about it,” he said. “I challenge ESPN to either fire him or cut his pay or do something about it, because honestly nobody wants to listen to his s–t. Because everybody knows that it’s just for likes, it’s just for followers, he really doesn’t actually know what he’s saying … this is just another idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Stephen A. Smith criticized Mike Trout for tearing his meniscus. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Don’t expect Smith to keep quiet about Papelbon’s comments.
