In an age where gender equality is a touchy issue, Stephen A. Smith is on the short end of the leash as he has been given a one week suspension. The ESPN personality has always been one to be outspoken with his loud and raspy voice. But, did he go too far with his comments last week on “First Take” regarding Ray Rice beating his then-fiance? Also, has the public gone too far in criticizing Smith?
Below is the statement that caused the raucous:
“But what I’ve tried to employ the female members of my family, some of who you all met and talked to and what have you, is that again, and this what, I’ve done this all my life, let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions, because if I come, or somebody else come, whether it’s law enforcement officials, your brother or the fellas that you know, if we come after somebody has put their hands on you, it doesn’t negate the fact that they already put their hands on you.“”
Now, let’s not discount the fact that Smith specifically said that women should not “do anything to provoke wrong actions”. But, why should anyone discount what he said BEFORE and AFTER that? He began this same statement with:
“We keep talking about the guys. We know you have no business putting your hands on a woman. I don’t know how many times I got to reiterate that.
“But as a man who was raised by women, see I know what I’m going to do if somebody touches a female member of my family. I know what I’m going to do, I know what my boys are going to do. I know what, I’m going to have to remind myself that I work for the Worldwide Leader, I’m going to have to get law enforcement officials involved because of what I’m going to be tempted to do.”
Now, does this sound like a man that meant to blame women? No. It’s a man that is saying that it works both ways. A man has the right to defend himself when put into danger. But, the catch was the fact that Smith used it in the wrong situation, moment, and could have had different wording. He then went on to apologize to the public today for his comments:
Seems like a sincere enough apology. So, why is the public asking for more? Yes, he’s outspoken but what has he done? A one week suspension is suffice and drives home the point that he needs to watch what he says. The fact is that he made an error. Which is 100% proof that he’s human.
And guess what, he did it all without touching a woman.
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