Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
Stephen A. discusses the civil lawsuit against rapper Jay-Z with ABC and ESPN Legal Analyst Ryan Smith. In the sports world, he comments on San Francisco 49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell refusing to take the field in the NFL Thursday Night game against the Los Angeles Rams, Bronny James dropping 30 points in the 106-100 loss to the Valley Suns, and Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver, Travis Hunter winning top offensive and defensive awards, and College “Football Player of the Year.” He also comments on Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark acknowledging her WNBA predecessors and white privilege and the Justice Department’s investigation of the FBI for having 26 confidential informants present during the January 6th insurrection.
On The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith gives you his renowned point of view, breaking barriers beyond the world of sports, and tackling pertinent issues across entertainment, pop culture, society, business, and politics. Three times a week, you'll hear his LIVE unfiltered opinions on the day's biggest headlines as well as straight-shooting interviews with top celebrities, game-changers, and thought leaders across the societal arena. The Stephen A. Smith Show is sure to entertain, inform, and motivate anyone who tunes in.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
What's up, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Ladies edition of Steven Asmith Show, coming
at you as I love to do at the very
least three times a week over the digital airways of YouTube.
As always, I like to take a moment to thank
my subscribers and followers of clipsed over nine hundred and
sixty one thousand, rapidly approaching one million subscribers. Obviously, there's
been a few million downloads over iHeartRadio over the last
few months. I can't thank y'all for the support and
(00:33):
love enough. I wouldn't have this show if it wasn't
for y'all support. I really really appreciate it from the
bottom of my heart. Keeper coming and I'm gonna keep
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accessible to all of our newest content, so keep that
in mind. And while you're doing so, make sure to
grab a copy of my New York Times best selling book,
(00:53):
Straight Shooter, a Memoir of second Chances and First Takes,
right in paperback right now. Just go to Straight Shooter
book dot com. Once again that Straight shooter book dot
Com to get yourself a copy, particularly over the Christmas holidays.
It's motivational, it's inspirational. I'm not bragging. I'm just giving
you facts because it ain't a sports book. It's about
me and my life, the adversity that I've faced, the
(01:15):
obstacles that I've overcome, the challenges that I've had to endure,
and how you keep on marching forward no matter what
obstacles lie in front of your face. On this particular day,
we're gonna start with the whole jay Z thing because
I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm pissed off. I'm
pretty pissed off at a lot of people. I'm pissed
off as some folks in the public. I'm pissed off
of some folks in my own damn family. I'm pissed
(01:36):
off at folks on my staff. I'm pissed off at everybody. Okay,
because I don't like to be misconstrued. It kind of
gets on my last damn nerves. So we're gonna get
started by touching on this subject and attacking it with
the level of candor and clarity that I like. Okay,
So there's no mimicking or muttering behind closed doors. All right,
(01:59):
we're going to get started with the jay Z headlines,
obviously for all of you who didn't know sleeping.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Under a rock.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
He was named in a lawsuit earlier this week, alongside
Showing Diddy Coombs. The suit accuses both men of raping
a thirteen year old girl more than twenty years ago.
Jay Z came out swinging in his defense, calling out
the attorney Tony Busby, who reportedly approached jay Z with
a demand letter before attaching his name in the Diddy suit.
Jay Z even called on Busby to file a criminal complaint.
(02:27):
Here's the statement from jay Z in the immediate aftermath
of the news breaking quote, these allegations are so heinous
in nature that I employ you to file a criminal complaint,
not a civil one. Whomever would commit such a crime
against the minor should be locked away. Would you not
agree these alleged victims would deserve real justice if that
were the case.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
In the aftermath of the many have wondered what impact
the allegations would have on jay Z and his businesses.
His company, Rock Nation has a partnership deal with the
National Football League to produce the Super Bowl Half Tom Show.
Here's what Commissioner Roger Goodell of the NFL had to
say this.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Week when asked about the suit. Quote.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
We are aware of the civil allegations and jay Z's
really strong response to that. We know obviously that litigation
is happening, but from our standpoint, our relationship is not
changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
End quote. One could easily.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Surmize that saying innocence until proven guilty, but we won't
even go there. We won't even go there, and any
interest of full disclosure. When I say family, I'm not
talking about immediate family. You talk about cousins and aunts
and people like that. You're talking about people who you
consider family. You're talking about people that you work with
every day, colleagues and all of this other stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Right, I have tremendous people that work for me.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I'm very proud of myself, and even though I getting
ass a lot of times when especially when they get
on my.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Last damn nerves as they have done today.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, in the end, I want to preface my comments
about them and anybody who thinks like them, some of them.
I want to preface my comments by saying I know
they're doing it to look out for me, and I
appreciate it. But I can appreciate you looking out for
me and still be annoyed as shit at you.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Because That's where.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I'm going here, And the reason why I'm going in
this direction, ladies and gentlemen, is because I want you
to understand something. When I spoke about jay Z and
I saw my comments all over social media, and I
saw it every way. You didn't hear me say I
had knowledge of the case. You didn't hear me say
I had knowledge of who Jane Doe is. You didn't
hear me say that I knew a sentilla of what
the hell these allegations entail.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Other than what all of you know, I don't know anything.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I'm not espousing innocence or guilt from a literal perspective,
But what I'm saying to you, to all of yours
in America.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
In the Baya and Abu Dhabi where I just.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Came from, to Africa, to England and France and everywhere
in between, what I'm saying to you is this, If
you're known somebody for twenty five years, do you not
have the right to say I've known that person for
twenty five years. I can't see that. I can't see
that happening. Do you know how I would feel. I
have somebody that works for me, my man Rashan. I
(05:09):
got my man Galen that I've known for twenty five years,
both of them twenty twenty five years. I've got people
in the industry that are my friends and my kind,
not just my colleagues and contemporaries.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
My friends, they've known me for decades. Stephen A. Smith
gets accused of rape, y'all.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Got nothing to say nothing. You're just gonna sit there
and have.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Nothing to say, Just gonna let me hang out there.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
If you believe in your heart, damn, I've known her
for twenty five years. I can't imagine him being guilty
of such a thing.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Nobody's gonna say that. Nobody. There's nobody in this world
that you say that about.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
If that's your answer, I feel sorry for you because
that means you don't believe in anybody. You don't have
a heart and a soul enough inside of you to
imagine that somebody's core.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Decency is just.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Too much to think that they would do something like that.
That is a generic statement that is not impuning the
alleged accuser, the accuser, that is not impuning even the lawyer.
We certainly wouldn't impune the courts. We wouldn't do that.
(06:49):
But I would hope that if somebody knows you for
twenty five years and you consider them a friend, that
you can say I can't I can't imagine that. I
can never see them doing something like that. I don't
(07:10):
believe it. You literally have people scurrying in this industry
and advising other people. It's not just me, it's a
whole bunch of other people. Oh, don't say anything. Don't
say anything. Oh you can't say that. I can't say
I know nothing. I'm not casting the spurses on anybody.
(07:32):
I'm just telling you. The person that I have known
for twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
That I have seen around young ladies.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Is not a person I could ever imagine doing something
like that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I can't say that because that's all I said.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Anything else to go any further would be irresponsible, It
would be stupid, and I don't believe I'm either.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
So when people come.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And they want you to be so ultra ultra, ultra careful,
I understand the careful part I understand it, but shouldn't
you be careful enough to actually listen to my words?
You see, this is the same platform where I was
(08:26):
raked through the colds for months.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Because I was accused of lumping.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Donald Trump and criminality in the black community. When I
was asked a question about his direct supporters and how
they felt about his assertions that there was relatability, that
is the question I was answering. It didn't stop the
(08:57):
NAACP from opening their mouth. It didn't stop colleagues and
contemporary from opening their mouth. I had friends that I've
known for decades that open their mouth.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And just jumped on the bandwagon along with everybody else
and forgot who I was.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
How you think I feel about them now? Because all
you have to do is listen to what I said
and say, Yo, that's not what he said. Maybe he
should have said something differently, or maybe he's wrong. We'll
(09:47):
talk about it. But the casters versus on them. Why
do you think I get pissed off when I see
people on podcasts and stuff like that talking.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Shit all the time. It's never with people that don't
know me. And if you're an enemy.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Like a couple of people are, because it's just a
couple's really just one that makes up a couple. But
I ain't gonna go there today. Outside of that, I
don't sweat it. You have a right to your opinion
whoever you are. Just contextualize it accurately and stick to
(10:27):
the actual issue, as opposed to using something to branch
out and castigate people's characters. My sympathy and my empathy
is extreme when it comes to anybody that has been raped.
(10:50):
Women are obviously far more often victims of such a
heinous crime than men. I have friends who are Muslims,
who are Christians, who are Jewish, who are Catholic. Hell
I even know a couple of atheists, and the people
(11:13):
that I know, when it comes to issues of rape,
they consider that tantamount to murder.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
It to rape a woman is to kill her, to
kill a part of her. There is nothing outside of
literally taking her life. That is what you have done
(11:45):
to her.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
It's just that blood is still circulating through our body
and she's still able to breathe, but she's dead. It
should never be condoned, ever in anybody who's guilty of that,
at the very least should be thrown under the damn jail.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Fine.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Outside of that, If somebody is accused and they adamantly
deny it and you believe their character is incapable of
such a thing, it's not you okaying such a heinous act,
it's you saying that act is so heinous. I don't
(12:32):
believe that person is capable of that based on the
person that I've.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Known for twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And if I were ever the found to be wrong,
I'd be sick to my stomach, as we all should be.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Simple. Forget jay Z for a second. I've got plenty
of us.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I got cast I grew up with my man Cardell,
my man Polly.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Spank Ski Boris, the cats that I went to school with,
the cats that I grew up with.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You come to me and tell me, and remember, I
grew up in Hollis Queens.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I grew up around drug dealers and drug users, and yes, murderous,
there's a few cats that I grew up with. They
in jail are dead.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So you don't vouch for everybody in terms of what
you believe. But what you can say is those who
you do feel that way about, you can never imagine
them doing that because you never consider them a friend.
If you could imagine them doing that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
That's all. That's all. It's all I wanted to say
about it. Nothing else.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I don't understand why that's controversial when I know nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I wasn't there. I have no idea who to accuse it.
I don't know anything.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
All I was saying is that I know the guy
for twenty five years. It's hard for me to imagine
he could ever be guilt. Not that guy that I've
been around. I can't imagine it. That's all, nothing more
than that, nothing more. It's time for me to go
(14:38):
to a guest because I've said enough. That's the only
point that I wanted to bring up. I didn't want
to say anything more than that. Joining me to discuss
the legal facts of the case is ABC and ESPN
legal analyst Ryan Smith, who's been on here before talking
about the B Diddy case. He always edifies us, always
(14:59):
appreciate his time. What's up, big time? How are you?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
What's going on, Steven A. I'm good.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
How you doing.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I had to have you on because last time you
were on, everybody wanted to see that one.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So I had to have you back on. Let's get
right to it.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
According to the reports jay Z became inbroad in a
puffy case after Busby sent the letter back last month
that alleged jay Z raped and drugg that thirteen year
old girl with combs at the two thousand VMA after party.
My question to you with this was this, for those
that don't know he received the demand letter, whatever, what's
a demand letter?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Explain what that is.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
A demand letter is essentially a letter a lawyer is
going to send to ask somebody to take a certain action. Here,
the demand letter sent by Tony Busby, the lawyer on
behalf of the Jane Doe in this case, was Hey,
let's get together and have a mediation over a claim
that my client has made that you assaulted her. Now
it seems once you hear that, you're alarmed, right if
(15:52):
you get that kind of letter. Tony Busby requested of mediation,
a private mediation to try to go through this. But
the reason why jay Z reacts so strongly is it's
kind of like, wait a second, this isn't a demand
letter to pay a fine. This is a demand letter
asking for some sort of legal action, asking for some
sort of civil civil discourse about a potential sexual assault.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So for Jay Z.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
This demand letter would have, if he said yes, put
him in mediation and in his mind, opened him up
for a discussion about whether or not he owes damages
for something he says he didn't do. So a demand
letter is fairly common for lawyers to send to each
other asking for a certain particular legal action.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
But in this case, because of the.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Explosive nature of the claims, you can understand why jay
Z went off on Tony busby Z.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Jay Z's team labeled this an extortion attempt? How is
that hyperbole? Is that excessive? Is that on point? How
would you qualify or classify such a label an extortion attempt?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
By Buddy Steven It depends on your perspective, right, So,
if you're Tony Busby, you have a client and that
it's the lawyer for this Jane Doe who's accusing jay
Z of raping her when she was thirteen at this
after party. If you're Tony Busby, your client has made
this claim, you want to try to settle it in
civil suits. So essentially you're looking for money damages. So
(17:16):
for you, it's reaching out saying, hey, let's settle this thing.
You've been named and it's something I've filed, but I've
kept that private. I want to have a discussion in
mediation to sort this out. We can sort it out
that way. The reason why jay Z would see it
as extortion is you got to start from the perspective
from jay Z of I didn't do this. So if
you get a letter like that and you didn't do this,
(17:38):
why would I do.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Any sort of legal procedure.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
But when you think about the way jay Z's looking
at it, it's okay, I haven't been named in something,
and if I don't do this mediation, what happens then
I'm named.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
I'm subject to public scrutiny.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Now everybody believes that I did this thing that I
said I didn't do, which, as you and I know
Steve and A, when somebody's name is put out there
for a crime, a lot of times people believe it
before they find out the facts. So for jay Z,
it appears to be an extortion attempt because he's saying, look,
you're just trying to do this to get me for money.
If I don't come to mediation, then you're gonna expose me, which,
in a sense did happen. His name got out there
(18:14):
and now in order to not do that, I've got
to pay you money and go through this mediation. So
from his perspective, it's an extortion attempt because if he
doesn't cooperate with the mediation, then his name's out there
unless he pays money in some way.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
That's what that's why they qualify it as extortion.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
His response was swift, no question about that. In a
strongly worded statement, he categorically denied any any truth to
these allegations that have been levied against him and said
he wanted to give Busby one red penny quote unquote,
and challenged Buzzby to follow a criminal lawsuit rather than
a civil one. What are we to make of that
point that jay Z made because it resonated with me, Ryan,
(18:55):
from the standpoint that he was saying, listen, if this,
if this is crime, if this is a crime that happened,
then this is so heinous.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You know, where's the criminal charges? Bring it on. That's
basically was what jay Z was saying.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yeah, stephen A, It's like he's saying, hey, look I'm innocent,
so bring it all at me. If you think it's that,
if you think I committed a crime, file a criminal charge.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
A couple things there.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
First, Tony Buzzby said in response to that, Hey, I'm
considering that it's up to my client. I'm going to
leave that to her. There's a lot of different complications
in this. The first thing is somebody might be able
to file a criminal complaint in this case, or let's
say Tony Buzzby could in some ways, but it's up
to prosecutors to prosecute that case. So it's not as
if you just go in and say, hey, I'm going
(19:37):
to file a criminal charge against you.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Not how it works. Prosecutor would have to be able
to take up the case.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
The other thing is, in the case like this, this
happened all the way back in two thousand, right, so
this is over twenty years ago, and if a prosecutor
is looking at a case like this, they're looking at
what's the evidence, Like who are the witnesses. This is
one of the reasons why Jay Z is actually requesting
right now in a filing that the.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Name be revealed of the Jane Doe here.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
He's trying to figure out, Okay, if you've made this claim,
let's hear some witnesses. Let's try to see the evidence
here let's try to let me try to get a sense.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Of what my case would be here.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
But the real difficult part of this is the statute
of limitations for first degree rape in New York State.
If this is a New York State case that right
now doesn't have a statute of limitations, back then depending
on the charge, there could be a statute of limitations.
So it gets a little complicated there. But if this
is a first degree forcible rate kind of case that
(20:34):
Tony Buzby seems to be saying it is here at
least in these filings, charges could be a possibility, But
filing a criminal complaint is different from prosecutors taking up
that case and making a criminal charge happened if the
allegations are true.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
The alleged victim was thirteen at the time, which means
she's now grown.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So how likely is it that she will be named.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
It's a tough scenario. They're asking the judge to talk
about it. We can't know for sure. There's a couple
different reasons. First, you name a client, you name a
Jane Doe. In a case of this, the argument is
generally this, you weigh the public need to have the
information and the defendants right in some ways to have
the information with the needs of the particular Jane Doe
involved in here. What do I mean by that, Well,
(21:21):
there's another side of this if you look at it
from the Jane Doe's perspective of is there.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
The possibility for retribution?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
What would happen to that person if their name was revealed?
That's one thing a judge would weigh on jay z side.
They're going to weigh the public interest of it, is
there something that requires this to be out there?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Does it in some way help the defendant build their case?
So right now, I look at a case.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Like this and I say it's an unknown because you
just don't know how a judge is going to decide
in this case. And we also, here's the big thing,
stephen A. We don't know the evidence in the details here.
What we have right now is a claim from someone
from over twenty years ago that this happened. Not saying
it's not true, not saying the allegations aren't to be believed,
just saying it's hard to know what's happening here until
(22:05):
you have more evidence and more information out there.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
But he has a right to know who she is
now they might not be revealed to the public, but
if he's being accused, he has a right to know
who he is being accused by. If not now, then
obviously at some point that is expected to be the case, right.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
And definitely that will happen eventually.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
And you look at a case like this Stephen that
what becomes really interesting is this is a civil case.
So I mentioned before that's her money damages. But if
this goes ahead as a civil case, so right now,
jay Z is asking that it be thrown out, either
reveal the name or throw it out.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
If they don't throw it out and.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
It goes forward, so if it's not dismissed, then you
have things like depositions that happen.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
In those depositions, jay Z is interviewed.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
The accuser, the person who's accusing him of the crime,
is interviewed, and that's where things get very interesting.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
See.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I look at a case like this and I think
back to what we saw in the p.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Didy case, the allegations that came out there, and I
look back to what happened in that case. Allegations, Investigators
started interviewing people, started talking about different things, and eventually
reco charges were filed, not saying jay Z.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Is related to that in any way. But one thing
I think jay.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Z has got to be concerned about is if this
case goes forward those depositions, he's got to answer all
kinds of questions under oath. If you lie in depositions,
you face the threat of perjury, which is an offense,
which is a criminal offense. So in those instances, what
becomes interesting is what's revealed there. This is one of
the reasons why he has a criminal lawyer, not because
(23:35):
we're saying, hey, he did something wrong, but you get
a criminal lawyer in a civil case like this because
of what could happen of where an investigation could lead
you process a civil case, you never know if authorities
might be looking at that in some way, investigating that
in some way to see if there's some other charge,
to see if there's some charge that might need to
(23:55):
be brought. So that's where this thing gets very complicated. Yes,
at some point he will learn the identity, But the
question is once he learns that identity and those depositions happen,
what happens next?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Could you illustrate because one of the things that I've
been making a point of is that you know, Listen,
I don't know what happened, and I'm certainly not going
to pretend to know what happened. I've known him for
twenty five years, so I've been on the record saying
I can't believe that the person that I've known for
twenty five years would be capable of such a thing.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
I don't believe it. But that's as far as.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Anybody, any human being, as far as far as I'm concerned,
can go. To go any further than that would be
utterly irresponsible. But what I want to also do is
highlight the difference right now people are acting like to
me when you bring up P Diddy. People bring up him,
and they bring up P Diddy in the same sentence
five his reasons, and I'm like, well, Homeland Security showed
up the P Diddy's properties in Miami and Los Angeles.
(24:48):
Ultimately an arrest was forthcoming, which he knew, which is
why he came to New York. And ultimately he was arrested,
and he has been incarcerated and denied bill not one,
not two, but three For Tom's that clearly is not
the case here. Should jay Z be fearful that it
could be the case. Is this the kind of thing
(25:10):
that we're looking at down the line potentially.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
I'm glad you asked that question, because I want to
distinguish between what we're seeing right now, stephen A, with
the jay Z situation, and what we saw in the
Diddy situation. There As you mentioned, rate on his home
lengthy investigation, going at even the charges, talking about a
criminal enterprise, his companies and all that, not only in
him not only involved in making records, but having this
(25:35):
criminal enterprise with these free costs.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I would not connect. I'd be loath right now to
connect the P.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Diddy case with jay Z, and for one really big
reason and then other smaller reasons. The big reason is
in the Diddy Combs case, they're arguing that he set
up this entire criminal enterprise, and part of this enterprise
worth these free costs. That's not being suggested in the
jay Z case. The jay Z case is suggesting, at
(26:02):
least the accusation is he was at this party that P.
Diddy was throwing and that there was a sexual assault
that occurred, and that jay Z committed it. Completely different circumstances,
completely different situation.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Do I know if it could go there and something
could happen.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
We don't know at this point, As you said, we
don't know enough information about that right now. But that's
a big difference the other differences here you talked about
should he be fearful, I would say there has to
be concern. And the reason there has to be concerned
is and we talked about this when we talked about
the Ditty case. We talked about the idea that there
were all these people involved. Even in the jan and
(26:38):
Dos case. With jay Z, she claims that she runs
out and nobody did anything.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
One of the things.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
US attorneys said when they were doing the Ditty case
was when they made that big announcement P. Diddy has
been arrested, they made the point of our investigation is
on going, they.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Are not stopping. That was not the end of it.
So why I think jay Z should be concerned.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
He's saying he didn't do anything, but and on its face,
let's assume that's the case. Why he should be concerned
is being involved in the orbit. That is P Diddy
being involved in the orbit of this situation.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Being involved in the.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Orbit of the claims that Jane Do made piques the
attention of investigators. This is just how investigators think when
they file a claim. When they see a claim like
p Didy and as expansive as that was, and they
think about all the people that might have been involved
or seen something or been there. They're trained to look
at this and say who else might have been involved?
(27:34):
Are there any other cases out there? So when they
see this, if I'm his lawyer, I'm thinking, Okay, I've
got to at least make sure he's not tied into
that in any way, and I've got to at least
expect investigators to maybe look at, keep an ear, keep
an eye on, and maybe ask questions about whether there's
any intersection in this case to that case. See, it's
(27:57):
an interesting difference there, because it's not to say, oh,
there's going to be a concern that he'll be involved
in the.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Ditty criminal enterprise.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
It's more concern of investigators follow the trail of whatever
evidence they find and whatever they hear and whatever they see, and.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
What you have to wonder about and worry about.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
I think be concerned about if you're Jay Z, is
our investigators eventually going to ask questions in some way
of me because of this case that's been filed against me.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
As you well know, Rock Nation has a partnership deal
with the National Football League to produce a Super Bowl
halftime show, and so naturally, when these allegations got aimed
at jay Z, a lot of people were waiting to
hear from the National Football League to see what it
was going to do, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had
this to say this week when asked about the suit. Quote,
(28:44):
we are aware of the civil allegations and jay Z's
really strong response to that. We know obviously that litigation
is happening, but from our standpoint, our relationship is not
changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
End quote Number one.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
From a legal perspective, how common of a position was
that to receive from an entity like the NFL? And
number two, what kind of effect, if any at all,
do you think will have on this ongoing situation?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
So number one, I'll admit stephen A.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
I was surprised to see that only because my sense
usually when you talk about organizations like the NFL and
claims against partners who have been accused of really heinous
situations is basically no comments or we're waiting to see
what happens with the evidence, That would be the first thought.
Perhaps there was some sort of discussion that happened after
these claim surface, and Roda Gudell was made to feel that, hey,
(29:43):
there's nothing to see here. This is something that's going
to go away. So maybe that was why they felt
comfortable making that response saying I'm going to stand by
a jay Z and keep working with Rock Nation. But
I got to say I was surprised it just because
usually we're used to seeing the NFL say, hey, if
there's anything even a semblance of something that could tarnish.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Our name and our brand in any way, we're gonna
at least say let's wait and see what happens here.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
We're gonna at least say no comment, We'll see as
it comes. We'll we're just following whatever happens. Come me
your second question.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Again, I said, how will this affect it?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
How do you think this will the NFL's position with
jay Z at this particular moment of time affect things
moving forward, whether it be their relationship with him or
this overall case.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I think it's interesting when I look at this, will
the NFL's relationship with him affect the processing of the case.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
I don't think it will affect what authorities do or
what a judge might do.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
I think what becomes interesting in all of this is
how does this case process based on that relationship he
has with the NFL and based on what jay Z
does and has. One thing we know about jay Z
is he has a deep pocket. So and that was
part of what you brought up here. Hey, just because
I have money doesn't mean you can come at me
for something that I'm saying I'm innocent for. But if
(31:01):
you think about where maybe the Jane Doe's lawyer is
coming from, if you think about it of hey, you've
got finances, you did something, I'm coming after you, maybe
that makes him continue to press the case. Maybe that
makes him continue to say, hey, I'm not giving up
on this, not just for money, but more from the
sense of especially when you talk about Tony Busby, more
(31:22):
from the sense of this is a person who says, Hey,
I'm fighting on behalf of the unknowns against the superstars
who think they can do things and just get away
with it. I'm the person who's going to bring those
people to justice. So the more that jay Z has
people stand by him, Obviously, for him, that's a good
thing that bolsters his claim of hey, I've done nothing
(31:44):
wrong in the court of public opinion. But I think
for Jane Doe and her attorney, the sense is, hey,
this is a person in our opinion, because we believe
the allegations are true. There's a person who thinks he
can do what he wants and won't be held accountable,
and we're not going to start until there's accountability. I
tell you this is a complicated case where we got
to wait for a lot of information to come out.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's twenty four years after the fact.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
A lot of people have made noise about that doesn't
mean anything because we know how often women have been
victimized and how they've been reluctant to come forward.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
The laws have.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Changed, society has changed. A heightened level of sensitivity has
really kicked up as well. Even in these times where
I think that people are far more understanding and men
have no choice but to be far more receptive to
these things that women have been telling us that they
have been enduring and experiencing for quite a long time.
What are we to make of it being coming to
(32:40):
light twenty four years later, these allegations.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
That they mean more to the public and to all
of us now. And that's not to say they didn't
mean anything before. That's to say you can even see
it in the law of stephen A based on how
this We talked earlier about whether or not a case
could be brought a criminal complaint. When you talk about
that years ago there was a statute of limitation.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
For certain degrees of rape. That was only five.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Years Those laws have been changed significantly now there's much more.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
But that's part of the problem of this case. It
happened so long ago. Depending on if.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Prosecutors took up a case, it could affect whether or
not the statue of the limitations applies. But even in
the law, is what I'm saying. Even in the law,
our way of viewing cases like this has changed drastically.
But in the public, I think is where it really matters.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Stephen A.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
We look at cases like this and we say, people
who are in power, who did bad things to others
have to be held accountable. I want to say it again,
that is not me saying anything about jay Z. What
that's saying is when you talk about authorities, there is
not some sense of hey, this happened twenty four years ago,
(33:48):
not a lot of evidence, nothing to see here. We're
just going to move on and prosecute cases from today.
There is a real sense on behalf of law enforcement
and authorities and courts and everyone to say, hey, these
cases don't go away because they're old, if the statute
of limitation doesn't apply, and they can be hurt. And
when you talk about investigations, this is what I thought
was so interesting about the Ditty case, and I think
(34:09):
resonates throughout the entertainment industry. I think investigators are now
looking at cases like this, the Ditty Case and beyond
and saying, when we get a sense of wrongdoing, we
are not letting that go. We are not just letting
that pass by and keeping an eye out out for
it and will there be enough evidence.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
No, we're going to move on.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
This is we are going to doggedly pursue something where
we have a good faith belief that there is a
crime and it doesn't matter if it's old, and it
doesn't matter if it might not fit in the particular
context of what you might think the crime might be
on its face.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
We're gonna look deeper see if there's some enterprise here.
See if there's something else going on. Stephen A. I
can't even tell you haven't been a lawyer for well
over two decades.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
It is a massive, massive shift in the way we
look at survivors of sexual assault.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Massive four.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I think people thought, Hey, if I don't say something quickly,
if I don't do something quickly, I don't have a chance.
And even if I do, my name's going to be
dragged to the mud. I'm going to be tortured through
this entire process. Even in then I might not get justice.
Now we live in a different world. Now these cases
are being heard. There is a sense on behalf of
law enforcement, judges others to say, let's hear the evidence,
(35:21):
let's see what's here, let's try to figure out these cases.
And in a sense, we are way more as a society,
both in the courts and in public opinion, to say
people who make claims are to be believed. Let us
hear it, let us figure it out, and let us
hear the full story.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Ryan Smith, Legal land List, ESPN, ABC. I'm proud to
call you a colleague and a contemporary. I'm really proud
of the work that you're doing. I appreciate you edifying
this show and this audience or every time you come
home on Man, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
Man.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
I'll talk to you soon anytime.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Man, Take care, all right, The one and only Ryan
Smith right here with Steven A and Steven A Smith Show.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Coming up.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Travis Hunter takes home a whole of postseason awards ahead
of the Heisman Trophy presentation this weekend. But is he
a lot for the biggest individual prize in college football?
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I'll get into that.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And Katelyn Clark acknowledges her predecessors and white privilege as
she's named Time Athlete of the Year. Those stories are
more with your boy up next eleven A Smith Show,
Don't go anywhere. Okay, everybody, you know what Tom it is.
(36:31):
It's Tom for Stephen A Sports Picks. Let's be real, y'all.
If there's one thing that's obvious is that I love sports.
I report on it, I debate it, and of course
I always enjoy watching it.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
It's my passion, always has been, always will be.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
And that's why I've teamed up with Prize Peckts and
bring you my favorite sports picks each and every single week.
Because Prize Picks is the largest fantasy sports platform in
all the land with over three million members. With prize picks,
you simply choose two, three, or even up to six
of your favorite players and then choose.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
More or less and they're project the stats for the
game contest.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
And now we're Prospects one thousand time lineup pay our promotion.
You have the ability to win up to one thousand
times your money. It requires careful strategy, sharp picks, and
a six pick lineup, but that is the highest payout
ever offered, ever offered at Prospects. And get this, if
you sign up a code that says Prospects will give
you fifty dollars instantly when you play your first five
(37:21):
dollar lineup.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
You don't need to win your lineup to receive the
fifty dollars bonus. It's guaranteed. All you have to do
is play a five dollar lineup on Prospects.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
And you'll get fifty dollars instantly. Now let's see my
winning picks today. I'll be making picks for the Sunday's
football games. First up, we've got the Baltimore Ravens quarterback
Lamar Jackson going up against the New York Giants. More
or less than two one hundred and seventeen and a
half pass yards. He's going against the New York Giants
two hundred and seventeen yards passes.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Does a trick question? That's a trick question.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
The only way he's not gonna throw for more than
hundred and seventeen yards. He decided out to throw the
ball because he can run on them all day.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
That's it. That's it. So I'm gonna go with more
as a particular answer to this question.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Next up, we've got to Washington command this quarterback Jaden
Daniels going up against the New Orleans Saints more or
less two one one hundred and thirteen and a half
passing yards. It's jad and Daniels. New Orleans is done
seasons over, not a good team. They'll be looking for
a new coach after this season. Jayden Daniels in Washington's
trying to play for a playoff spot. I think more
(38:17):
is the way to go with this one as well.
Next up, we have Miami Dolphins quarterback two Tungue Valowa
going up against the Houston Texans more or less than
two hundred and sixty eight and a half passing yards Houston.
I still expect them to make some noise, et cetera.
But I gotta tell you something right now, I think
Tour can put up some numbers in this game as well.
I really really do. I think that Houston's appears vulnerable.
(38:39):
I can see this being a high scoring contest. Obviously,
anytime you got Tyreek Hill on the team or two
players can get you two hundred you know, three players
rather than get you two hundred and sixty eight.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yards with that, brother, So I'm gonna go with more.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Finally, we've got New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito, not
Danny DeVito, not him, Tommy DeVito going up against the
Baltimore Ravens more or less than one hundred and seventy
eight and a half passing yard duds.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I have no faith in anything associated with the Giants
at this point, zero zero.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
I know that Baltimore's defensive suspect, I get that, but
I have no faith in the New York Giants. Anything
that is associated with them should be less because their
value dissipates with each passing week.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Okay, I'm on the verge of saying they need new ownership.
It's just bad. It's just bad.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
There we gonna go with less for Tommy DeVito in
the New York Giants one hundred and seventy eight and
a half passing yards. I think that's entirely too much
when it comes to him. That's just where I'm.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
At with it. Either way you slice it, it's.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
More and more and more and less. That's three out
of four. That ain't bad. Matter of fact, it's pretty
damn good. That's what prospects of breenshit. Welcome back to
Steph Nick Smith Show. Let me get into some sports
headlines in a moment. All right, that's what I plan
on doing. But I want to start by addressing my
(39:55):
brother Kenny Smith over at T and T. Kenny the Jessmit,
that's my dog, right, Kenny and I'll be going head
to head supposedly in Las Vegas tomorrow afternoon in a
free throw shooting contest ahead of the Emirates NBA Cup Semifinals.
Now we all know Kenny Smith is a two time
NBA champion and the sharp shooter, so he decided to
handicap the event and shoot his free throws with his
left hand. I want you to know, I feel this
(40:17):
is so disrespectful. This is so disrespectful to me. I mean,
the man is just disrespecting to me. Okay, but that's
all right because you see ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
First of all, it's all in fun.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
That's my brother right there, His big brother, Vincus Smith,
was the one that trained me and helped me get
a basketball scholarship to Winston Salem State. Kenny Smith's family
and myself go back a very, very long ways. It's
my brother from another mother. I love him to death,
but he was disrespectful. He really really was disrespectful. Now,
damn it. I ain't no damn NBA player. Hell I
wasn't even a college player as far as I'm concerned,
(40:48):
because I was too damn injury prone. But the bottom
line is, ain't no scrub. I can play. I can
damn sure shoot. And to sit up there and talk
about he's gonna hurt me left handed, I'm like, damn,
he had to come at me like that. That wasn't
really really, you know, but I see what he's doing here,
you see, let's get down to the nitty gritty. Shaq
was reluctant to go against me in the free throw
(41:08):
contest for obvious reasons. David shoots fifty percent of free
throws for fifty five percent of free throws for his career.
We understand that he's not a free throw shooter. All right, Chuck,
you know that's my man right there. He's been supportive
of me, so I'm not gonna go at him, even
though I saw I'm breathing.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Heavy the other day. It's all right, It's okay, Kenny.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
You know, the TNT crew is the Krem Dela Krem
did the elite, and I'm honored to be joining them
tomorrow afternoon before we do NBA Count on the ESPN
Saturday night. I gotta be there with them three thirty
pm Eastern time, live in Vegas. I'm just wondering why
the hell is alimited to free throw shooter? Why why
don't we just have a shooting contest since you want to,
since you want to.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Be all big, bad and bold. While we got to
go to the free throw line we are, why can't
we go to the wing. Why can't we go to
the quarters? Why can't we shoot beyond the three point line?
Ain't nobody scared, Kenny? Anybody scared? You understand I ain't
got to play against you.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
You adn't say say even over everybody teasy you're about
tonabs whatever. I don't do that because I know you
the jet I know you a bad brother. You und
to see you bust my ass all day, every day
in a game.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
But just to shoot the ball. I mean, why are
we living in ourselves to free throw? Free throw? Ain't
nobody scared? Ain't nobody scared. I'm good, I'm good with it.
What's up? That's what I want to say. I ain't
asking Chuck and Shock the same because we know better. Y'all.
Y'all know what Tom. That is all right?
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Ernie Johnson, I ain't messing with you. You the godfather, my brother.
I love you to death. Ernie will probably slay all
of us. But Kenny, I see you, I see you Saturday, Saturday.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
I'll be there. I will be there. Now, let me
move on.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Let's get to some of the sports headlines, real sports headlines.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
I want to begin with Thursday night football.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Last night in San Francisco, the Los Angeles Rams came
into town and essentially ended the Niner season, beating them
twelve to six. But the biggest headline of the night
was what we saw from the NINAS linebacker group, specifically
the Andondre Campbell. Campbell was asked to enter the game
the two starters, Dre Greenlaw and d Winters were dealing
with injuries. Campbell refused to enter the game and then
(43:08):
eventually left the field during the fourth quarter. Head coach
Kyle Shanahan said the plan was for Campbell to enter
the game after Greenlaw went down with knee sotness. As mentioned,
Campbell refused to play and left the field and the team,
leaving the locker room fuming afterwards. Here's what nana's quarterback
on cornerback Tavarius Ward said after the game quote, He's
a professional, He's been playing for a long time. If
he didn't want to play, shouldn't have dressed out. He
(43:29):
could have told them that before the game. I feel
like that was some sucker shit that he did. It
definitely hurt the team. D went down and we needed
a linebacker, So for him to do that, that's some
sucker stuff to me. In my opinion, He's probably going
to get cut soon, So it is what it is,
ladies and gentlemen. Had that been me, he'd have been
cut by the time he got out the shower. And
(43:53):
that's assuming we need to let him in the shower.
If he had walked off the field, I'd have made
sure he was no longer a member of the team
before he left that damn locker room. It's one of
the most egregious things. If you don't want to play,
ladies and gentlemen. He could have refused to dress for
the game. People would have said, Yo, that's business, that's
what comes with it. We understand you might have been
(44:15):
a bit salty about it or whatever, but never something
like this. Understand the magnitude of what Devondre Campbell did.
He's on the sideline in uniform, dressed to play, and
not one but two of his teammates go down and
they go to him, who's a former All Pro by
the way, and he refused to enter the game and
(44:38):
then walked off the field. This is in the middle
of the game, this is in the third quarter. There
is nothing on the planet that he can say to
a player to justify doing that. We're not players, and
we know how fed up that is. That is the
epitome of leaving a soldier on the field in the
(45:00):
field of battle.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
That is the epitome of abandoning your teammates.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
That is the epitome of selling out.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
It is unforgivable. His career may be in jeopardy because
of this, and no one will defend him.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
You see the way George Kittle talked about him, You
see the way Javarius Ward talked about him. You think
they'd only two that feel that way. Let me tell
you something. He's lucky he heard that, because you know
what's more conspicuous, what's most palpable, what's more riveting than
their words? You see those words by there by George Kittle.
I don't like distractions on the sideline. I think that's ignorant,
(45:41):
and I think it's just dumb. It's just stupid, and
it's very immature. I just don't see how you could
do something like that to your team. It's one person
making a selfish decision. I've never been around anybody that's
ever done that, and I hope I'm never around anybody
who does that.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Again. That's George Kittle, sit all pro tight end.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
Do you understand that what he did, where it's really
gonna be riveting is with silence.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
See those brothers spoke. Ninety nine percent of the.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
League is gonna look at him and be like, man,
I don't want that dude, that's my Teammate't got nothing to.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Say to him.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
They're gonna have the Kyle Shanahan approaching the postseason as
postgame news conference last night where he said, why are
we talking about him? He's that's history. In other words,
he's done. It's over. It's over.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
You can't blame Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
I don't care what you can say whatever you want.
Not before the game is one thing to dress in
uniform for the game to be ongoing, and then for
you to quit and walk.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Into the locker room.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
By refusing to enter the game when called upon in
the middle of the game, it's unforgivable. It's unforgivable. Maybe
somebody will forgive.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Him, but I doubt it. Listen up, y'all, I love football.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
There's nothing like being in the middle of the action
at a football game, being surrounded by fans explosive cheers
as the running back carries the ball into the end
zone for that winning touchdown. You can't get that type
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Speaker 1 (47:37):
There's so many ways to save.
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That's right.
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Speaker 1 (48:40):
Game time?
Speaker 2 (48:41):
Let's get to some quick hitters in the headlines that
I want to start with. Caitlyn Clarker right, the Indiana
Fever star, was named Tom Magazine's Athlete of the Year
earlier this week, and she took time to acknowledge that
race played the role in her success this year. Here's
a passage from the article in Times magazine quote. I
want to say I've earned every single thing, but as
a white person, there is privilege.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
A lot of those players.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
In the league that have been really good have been
black players. This league has been kind of been built
on them. The more we can appreciate that highlight that
talk about that, I think it's very important.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
I have to continue to try to change that.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
The more we can elevate black women, that's going to
be a beautiful thing end quote. You see why I
had no problem with her being Times Athlete of the Year.
You see why I said that she should have been
on Team USA.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
You see why I.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Had to go off on the likes of Ryl Swoops
and others who were clearly distant and dismissed and dismissive
of her. No matter how much they try to deny it,
there was resentment towards her.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
And here's why I said it was stupid because when.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
She came into into the w NBA for twenty two
plus years, they had been flying commercial. They were begging
for chartered flights. She arrives there and two weeks later
they got chartered flights. She automatically and instantaneously improved the conditions.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Attendance is still lagging.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
WNBA is still losing money compared to what you would
hope it would earn, but clearly things are upward trending trajectory.
It's improving and she has everything to do with it.
Attendance for Indiana Fever games Are you kidding me? MWNBA
draft games on ABC, ESPN television ratings.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
She's directly responsible and people were resenting.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Her for it, like she was the cause of the
problems that they had for the lack of recognition. No,
she just happened to be born white, that's it. Caitlin
Clark hasn't spoken against anybody. She has an assistant in
denying anybody else the privileges they deserve. If anything, she's
tried to provide assistance. A rising tide lifts all boats.
(50:47):
She's trying to be the rising tide that lifts the boats.
And it was sisters resentful of her, Be resentful of
the system, be resentful of the folks, primarily to white
folks who basically disenfranchised y'all all of these years before
she came along, who denied you the acclaim and the
(51:10):
allure and the prophet you richly deserved. But you don't
take that out on Kaitlyn Clark, not her. She's the
one that assists you. When black folks was marching during
the Civil Rights era and fighting every battle they possibly could,
(51:33):
they weren't dismissive, nor did they assist in denigrating the
white people who marched with them.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
They saved the vendom for those who wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
You don't run away from people who support you, You
run to them, especially when they're in a better position
than you to help you. But it still seems like
people are slow their way to a form of progressive
(52:04):
thinking that enables them to appreciate the Caitlin Clarks of the.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
World instead of resenting.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Her, which means, as always, no matter how far we've come,
we still have a ways to go. Quick hit the
number two takes us to Tempe, Arizona, where Bronnie James
played in his first road game for the South Bay
Lakers and had a career night. The Lakers rookie scored
a game high thirty points and thirteen of twenty three
shooting as the South Bay Lakers fell to the Valley Suns,
one of six one hundred. Bronnie, who was the fifty
(52:30):
fifth pick in the NBA Draft, is now averaging fourteen points,
three and a half rebounds, and two point five assistant
four games in the G League. I'm just happy he
got action. I'm just happy that he showed up on
a road game and got reps in the whole lebron James,
Bronnie James. Things is done now. It's about Bronnie James
(52:51):
earning his stripes and participating against that lesser competition and
busting there, you know what, to show that he deserves
to be in the NBA, Because even though people are
gonna hate no matter what, the legitimacy of their arguments
are gonna dissipate drastically once you continue to show out
like that, once you continue to show that you belong
(53:12):
like you started showing last night. Congratulations to Brownie James,
but keep it up. It's a marathon, baby, it ain't
a sprint. And nobody is in a better position to
know that than your father, who is on a Mount
Rushmore basketball. One of the all time greats, Lebron ain't perfect,
and I'm wanted the first to point out his imperfections
on a basketball cote, of course, nowhere else. But let
(53:34):
me tell you something. He's an all time great. He's
never cheated the game, and that brother works his tail
of to improve all the time. Emulate Pops to the
best of your ability, and you'll.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Be just fine.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
For our last quick hit, I want to give major
props to Travis Hunter of the Colorado Buffaloes, Hunter, who's
a favorite to win the Heisman this weekend. Last night,
at the thirty fourth Annual College Football Award Show on
ESPN took home four count them four big awards. He
won the Associated Press Football Player of the Year, receiving
twenty six to forty three votes Thursday from a panel
of eightp top twenty five voters. In addition to that,
(54:13):
he also won a Walter Camp Awards Player of the
Year along with the Chuck betten Rick Award as a
top defensive player. And finally, Hunter won the Bolitnikoff Award
that honor is the best wide.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
Receiver in the country. He clearly should win the Heisman.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
That kid from Boise State, that running back ain't no
joke though, But I'm Travis Hunter all day, every day,
no questioning. He deserves the Heisman, and I hope he
gets it. I'm proud of him. Four point oh GPA,
special kids, special talent, great head on his shoulders, wishing
him nothing but the best. He really deserves it. I'm
(54:45):
really happy for him. But let's not stop there. Close
the deal. Give that brother the Heisman. He's earned it.
Coming up, a Bombshall report reveals the FBI had more
than two dozen confidential informants in the crowd during raid
on the Capitol on January sixth.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
What does it all mean, I'll get into that. This
is stephn Asmith Show. Don't go anywhere. Listen up, y'all.
I have an important announcement you need to know about.
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Speaker 1 (56:37):
Welcome back to Stephen A. Smith show.
Speaker 2 (56:39):
I want to get into some politics before we get
on out of here, as we've now enter the final
month of Joe Biden's presidency, and for the sake of argument,
it hasn't been a good one. The Democrats lost to
White House, Senate and House in November into November election. Meanwhile,
this week, FBI Director Christopher Ray announced plans to resign
at the end of the body administration as President elect
(57:01):
Donald Trump takes office in January. The news comes amissed
a bombshell report from the Justice Department that revealed the
FBI had at least twenty six confidential informants on the
ground when the capital was stormed on January sixth, twenty
twenty one. The report says most of the informants engaged
in illegal activity during the chaos.
Speaker 1 (57:20):
The Justice Department says only three of.
Speaker 2 (57:21):
Its twenty six informants president had been instructed to observe
potential domestic terrorist suspects on the day of the riot.
The rest of the twenty three appeared to have gone
to the capital on their own accord. Upon hearing news
of the report, Vice President elect JD. Vance posted the
following on X quote for those keeping score at home,
this was labeled a dangerous conspiracy thirty months ago.
Speaker 1 (57:43):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (57:45):
So twenty three folks for the FBI win the crowd,
and we're just finding that out. Didn't hear anything about
that for the election. Didn't hear anything about that when
the quote unquote insurrection was broached by Vice President. Kamala
(58:07):
Harris is a Democratic nominee by President Biden. Before her,
by Democrats in both the House and the Senate, as
they articulated the belief that Donald Trump was a danger
to democracy and using this as a profound, illuminating bullet point.
Speaker 1 (58:29):
To make that case.
Speaker 2 (58:31):
And now here we are yet again finding even more
evidence to Donald Trump's claims when he articulated that process
is rigged the Democrats or this, or that they're talking
about us, but look at what they do. We don't
know all the details. It's a report Justice Department comes
(58:51):
out with this. That's not my big issue. My big
issue is that I'm really really sick and tired of
every time I turn around finding something else that the
Democrats have lied about or downplayed or misrepresented along the way,
where's the one and a half billion dollars that was
(59:12):
given to the Democratic Party?
Speaker 1 (59:16):
Where's it? Where the money go? Why was Oprah given
too and a half million?
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Why was our Shopton's National Action that we're giving that
much money before interviews? By the way, why I think
it was five hundred k for the National Action Network.
Speaker 3 (59:40):
Why?
Speaker 1 (59:42):
I want to be clear, I.
Speaker 2 (59:44):
Don't have any problem with the National Action Network taking
that money because.
Speaker 1 (59:48):
They don't have a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (59:50):
I have more of a problem with Oprah taking two
and a half million when she's worth over a billion.
Speaker 1 (59:57):
But speaking to.
Speaker 2 (59:58):
Us as if and Soul were so immersed in supporting
Kamala Harris, then why didn't you do it for free?
Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
I'm just asking.
Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I'm just asking these things because I think it's important
and I think that the.
Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
Time has arrived where we have to stop.
Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
Letting stuff go all the time, particularly when it comes
to the left. I mean, I see Republicans like Megan
Kelly or Officer Tatum or a Canvas Owens or you know,
the showing Hannities of the world that you.
Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Know what I'm getting tired of. I'm getting you know
what I'm.
Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Getting to the Democratic Party, you know what I'm getting really.
Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Pissed off about. I'm getting really ticked off.
Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
And every time they open their mouth about something pertaining
to y'all, they seem right.
Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
I would love to argue with Sean Handedy.
Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
How can I Do you know what Sean Handedy used
to do to me when I told him Kamala Harris
had a chance. He'd laugh, like literally genuinely giggle. He'd
go on TV and put on his straight face to.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Y'all, I've got to be concerned this selection can go
either way, he laughed. He wasn't concerned about.
Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Her before I called out Biden. He was calling Biden
sleepy Joe. What's percolating on social media today? Just go
and look at it, y'all. Joe Biden is caught.
Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
Napping at an African summit in Angola.
Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
For at least a full minute. They didn't say whether
he was snoring or not. That's about all I was missing,
but he was clearly sleep.
Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
I'm not going to pardon my son.
Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
I want to say for the record, I have no
problem with him pardoning, pardoning Hunter Bidy.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
I had a problem with.
Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
Him trying to act like it was unjust what was
being done in pursuit of getting after my son. Because
they wanted to get to me. All you had to
say was I'm pardoning my son because he's my son.
You couldn't just say that, though. You know why you
couldn't say that, President Biden, because you had been telling
us you it was the last.
Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Thing that you were you were you were going to do.
Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
And why did you say that? Why they karn Jean Pierre.
Remember as she said, he will absolutely not pardon his son.
It's all over social media right now. They kept saying that,
it's everywhere. How many times did the Democrats tell us.
No one's above the law. No one's above the law.
No one's above the law.
Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Anti Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Warren, who makes you feel like your soul is going
to hell if you don't agree to what her inconsistency
after inconsistency after inconsistency. We can argue policies, we can
argue politics all day long. But the Democrats worked really,
(01:03:30):
really diligently to make the case that the right had
a monopoly on insidious, evil tendencies, corrupt tendencies, duplicitous, hypocritical,
(01:03:51):
untruthful tendencies. And every time they made those accusations, turn
around and find out that at least some of them
are guilty of the same shit. I don't know about y'all,
but I'm sick of all of it. I'm sick of
(01:04:12):
all of it. They've actually made Donald Trump look like
he was right instead of them.
Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Think about that. He didn't just get to raise his
fist on election night as a victor.
Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
He's been raising it every night ever since for one
different issue after another that he keeps winning because he
keeps highlighting what they lied about.
Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
I'm sick of it. I have nothing to say, enjoy
y'all weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
I gotta get to Vegas for the Emirate Cup semi
finals in the National basket Ball Association, and outside of that,
I'm just sick of all of this and I'm sick
of a lot of people, so I'm just gonna shut
up for the rest of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
Y'all have a nice night.
Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
M
What's up, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Ladies edition of Steven Asmith Show, coming
at you as I love to do at the very
least three times a week over the digital airways of YouTube.
As always, I like to take a moment to thank
my subscribers and followers of clipsed over nine hundred and
sixty one thousand, rapidly approaching one million subscribers. Obviously, there's
been a few million downloads over iHeartRadio over the last
few months. I can't thank y'all for the support and
(00:33):
love enough. I wouldn't have this show if it wasn't
for y'all support. I really really appreciate it from the
bottom of my heart. Keeper coming and I'm gonna keep
on coming. To continue to like and follow the show,
just click the bell and you two will be deemed
the latest member of Steven A. Smith Show family, obviously
accessible to all of our newest content, so keep that
in mind. And while you're doing so, make sure to
grab a copy of my New York Times best selling book,
(00:53):
Straight Shooter, a Memoir of second Chances and First Takes,
right in paperback right now. Just go to Straight Shooter
book dot com. Once again that Straight shooter book dot
Com to get yourself a copy, particularly over the Christmas holidays.
It's motivational, it's inspirational. I'm not bragging. I'm just giving
you facts because it ain't a sports book. It's about
me and my life, the adversity that I've faced, the
(01:15):
obstacles that I've overcome, the challenges that I've had to endure,
and how you keep on marching forward no matter what
obstacles lie in front of your face. On this particular day,
we're gonna start with the whole jay Z thing because
I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm pissed off. I'm
pretty pissed off at a lot of people. I'm pissed
off as some folks in the public. I'm pissed off
of some folks in my own damn family. I'm pissed
(01:36):
off at folks on my staff. I'm pissed off at everybody. Okay,
because I don't like to be misconstrued. It kind of
gets on my last damn nerves. So we're gonna get
started by touching on this subject and attacking it with
the level of candor and clarity that I like. Okay,
So there's no mimicking or muttering behind closed doors. All right,
(01:59):
we're going to get started with the jay Z headlines,
obviously for all of you who didn't know sleeping.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Under a rock.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
He was named in a lawsuit earlier this week, alongside
Showing Diddy Coombs. The suit accuses both men of raping
a thirteen year old girl more than twenty years ago.
Jay Z came out swinging in his defense, calling out
the attorney Tony Busby, who reportedly approached jay Z with
a demand letter before attaching his name in the Diddy suit.
Jay Z even called on Busby to file a criminal complaint.
(02:27):
Here's the statement from jay Z in the immediate aftermath
of the news breaking quote, these allegations are so heinous
in nature that I employ you to file a criminal complaint,
not a civil one. Whomever would commit such a crime
against the minor should be locked away. Would you not
agree these alleged victims would deserve real justice if that
were the case.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
In the aftermath of the many have wondered what impact
the allegations would have on jay Z and his businesses.
His company, Rock Nation has a partnership deal with the
National Football League to produce the Super Bowl Half Tom Show.
Here's what Commissioner Roger Goodell of the NFL had to
say this.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Week when asked about the suit. Quote.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
We are aware of the civil allegations and jay Z's
really strong response to that. We know obviously that litigation
is happening, but from our standpoint, our relationship is not
changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
End quote. One could easily.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Surmize that saying innocence until proven guilty, but we won't
even go there. We won't even go there, and any
interest of full disclosure. When I say family, I'm not
talking about immediate family. You talk about cousins and aunts
and people like that. You're talking about people who you
consider family. You're talking about people that you work with
every day, colleagues and all of this other stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Right, I have tremendous people that work for me.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I'm very proud of myself, and even though I getting
ass a lot of times when especially when they get
on my.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Last damn nerves as they have done today.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, in the end, I want to preface my comments
about them and anybody who thinks like them, some of them.
I want to preface my comments by saying I know
they're doing it to look out for me, and I
appreciate it. But I can appreciate you looking out for
me and still be annoyed as shit at you.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Because That's where.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I'm going here, And the reason why I'm going in
this direction, ladies and gentlemen, is because I want you
to understand something. When I spoke about jay Z and
I saw my comments all over social media, and I
saw it every way. You didn't hear me say I
had knowledge of the case. You didn't hear me say
I had knowledge of who Jane Doe is. You didn't
hear me say that I knew a sentilla of what
the hell these allegations entail.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Other than what all of you know, I don't know anything.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I'm not espousing innocence or guilt from a literal perspective,
But what I'm saying to you, to all of yours
in America.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
In the Baya and Abu Dhabi where I just.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Came from, to Africa, to England and France and everywhere
in between, what I'm saying to you is this, If
you're known somebody for twenty five years, do you not
have the right to say I've known that person for
twenty five years. I can't see that. I can't see
that happening. Do you know how I would feel. I
have somebody that works for me, my man Rashan. I
(05:09):
got my man Galen that I've known for twenty five years,
both of them twenty twenty five years. I've got people
in the industry that are my friends and my kind,
not just my colleagues and contemporaries.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
My friends, they've known me for decades. Stephen A. Smith
gets accused of rape, y'all.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Got nothing to say nothing. You're just gonna sit there
and have.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Nothing to say, Just gonna let me hang out there.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
If you believe in your heart, damn, I've known her
for twenty five years. I can't imagine him being guilty
of such a thing.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Nobody's gonna say that. Nobody. There's nobody in this world
that you say that about.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
If that's your answer, I feel sorry for you because
that means you don't believe in anybody. You don't have
a heart and a soul enough inside of you to
imagine that somebody's core.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Decency is just.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Too much to think that they would do something like that.
That is a generic statement that is not impuning the
alleged accuser, the accuser, that is not impuning even the lawyer.
We certainly wouldn't impune the courts. We wouldn't do that.
(06:49):
But I would hope that if somebody knows you for
twenty five years and you consider them a friend, that
you can say I can't I can't imagine that. I
can never see them doing something like that. I don't
(07:10):
believe it. You literally have people scurrying in this industry
and advising other people. It's not just me, it's a
whole bunch of other people. Oh, don't say anything. Don't
say anything. Oh you can't say that. I can't say
I know nothing. I'm not casting the spurses on anybody.
(07:32):
I'm just telling you. The person that I have known
for twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
That I have seen around young ladies.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Is not a person I could ever imagine doing something
like that.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I can't say that because that's all I said.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Anything else to go any further would be irresponsible, It
would be stupid, and I don't believe I'm either.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
So when people come.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And they want you to be so ultra ultra, ultra careful,
I understand the careful part I understand it, but shouldn't
you be careful enough to actually listen to my words?
You see, this is the same platform where I was
(08:26):
raked through the colds for months.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Because I was accused of lumping.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Donald Trump and criminality in the black community. When I
was asked a question about his direct supporters and how
they felt about his assertions that there was relatability, that
is the question I was answering. It didn't stop the
(08:57):
NAACP from opening their mouth. It didn't stop colleagues and
contemporary from opening their mouth. I had friends that I've
known for decades that open their mouth.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And just jumped on the bandwagon along with everybody else
and forgot who I was.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
How you think I feel about them now? Because all
you have to do is listen to what I said
and say, Yo, that's not what he said. Maybe he
should have said something differently, or maybe he's wrong. We'll
(09:47):
talk about it. But the casters versus on them. Why
do you think I get pissed off when I see
people on podcasts and stuff like that talking.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Shit all the time. It's never with people that don't
know me. And if you're an enemy.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Like a couple of people are, because it's just a
couple's really just one that makes up a couple. But
I ain't gonna go there today. Outside of that, I
don't sweat it. You have a right to your opinion
whoever you are. Just contextualize it accurately and stick to
(10:27):
the actual issue, as opposed to using something to branch
out and castigate people's characters. My sympathy and my empathy
is extreme when it comes to anybody that has been raped.
(10:50):
Women are obviously far more often victims of such a
heinous crime than men. I have friends who are Muslims,
who are Christians, who are Jewish, who are Catholic. Hell
I even know a couple of atheists, and the people
(11:13):
that I know, when it comes to issues of rape,
they consider that tantamount to murder.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
It to rape a woman is to kill her, to
kill a part of her. There is nothing outside of
literally taking her life. That is what you have done
(11:45):
to her.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
It's just that blood is still circulating through our body
and she's still able to breathe, but she's dead. It
should never be condoned, ever in anybody who's guilty of that,
at the very least should be thrown under the damn jail.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Fine.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Outside of that, If somebody is accused and they adamantly
deny it and you believe their character is incapable of
such a thing, it's not you okaying such a heinous act,
it's you saying that act is so heinous. I don't
(12:32):
believe that person is capable of that based on the
person that I've.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Known for twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And if I were ever the found to be wrong,
I'd be sick to my stomach, as we all should be.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Simple. Forget jay Z for a second. I've got plenty
of us.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I got cast I grew up with my man Cardell,
my man Polly.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Spank Ski Boris, the cats that I went to school with,
the cats that I grew up with.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You come to me and tell me, and remember, I
grew up in Hollis Queens.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I grew up around drug dealers and drug users, and yes, murderous,
there's a few cats that I grew up with. They
in jail are dead.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So you don't vouch for everybody in terms of what
you believe. But what you can say is those who
you do feel that way about, you can never imagine
them doing that because you never consider them a friend.
If you could imagine them doing that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
That's all. That's all. It's all I wanted to say
about it. Nothing else.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
I don't understand why that's controversial when I know nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I wasn't there. I have no idea who to accuse it.
I don't know anything.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
All I was saying is that I know the guy
for twenty five years. It's hard for me to imagine
he could ever be guilt. Not that guy that I've
been around. I can't imagine it. That's all, nothing more
than that, nothing more. It's time for me to go
(14:38):
to a guest because I've said enough. That's the only
point that I wanted to bring up. I didn't want
to say anything more than that. Joining me to discuss
the legal facts of the case is ABC and ESPN
legal analyst Ryan Smith, who's been on here before talking
about the B Diddy case. He always edifies us, always
(14:59):
appreciate his time. What's up, big time? How are you?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
What's going on, Steven A. I'm good.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
How you doing.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
I had to have you on because last time you
were on, everybody wanted to see that one.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So I had to have you back on. Let's get
right to it.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
According to the reports jay Z became inbroad in a
puffy case after Busby sent the letter back last month
that alleged jay Z raped and drugg that thirteen year
old girl with combs at the two thousand VMA after party.
My question to you with this was this, for those
that don't know he received the demand letter, whatever, what's
a demand letter?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Explain what that is.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
A demand letter is essentially a letter a lawyer is
going to send to ask somebody to take a certain action. Here,
the demand letter sent by Tony Busby, the lawyer on
behalf of the Jane Doe in this case, was Hey,
let's get together and have a mediation over a claim
that my client has made that you assaulted her. Now
it seems once you hear that, you're alarmed, right if
(15:52):
you get that kind of letter. Tony Busby requested of mediation,
a private mediation to try to go through this. But
the reason why jay Z reacts so strongly is it's
kind of like, wait a second, this isn't a demand
letter to pay a fine. This is a demand letter
asking for some sort of legal action, asking for some
sort of civil civil discourse about a potential sexual assault.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So for Jay Z.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
This demand letter would have, if he said yes, put
him in mediation and in his mind, opened him up
for a discussion about whether or not he owes damages
for something he says he didn't do. So a demand
letter is fairly common for lawyers to send to each
other asking for a certain particular legal action.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
But in this case, because of the.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Explosive nature of the claims, you can understand why jay
Z went off on Tony busby Z.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Jay Z's team labeled this an extortion attempt? How is
that hyperbole? Is that excessive? Is that on point? How
would you qualify or classify such a label an extortion attempt?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
By Buddy Steven It depends on your perspective, right, So,
if you're Tony Busby, you have a client and that
it's the lawyer for this Jane Doe who's accusing jay
Z of raping her when she was thirteen at this
after party. If you're Tony Busby, your client has made
this claim, you want to try to settle it in
civil suits. So essentially you're looking for money damages. So
(17:16):
for you, it's reaching out saying, hey, let's settle this thing.
You've been named and it's something I've filed, but I've
kept that private. I want to have a discussion in
mediation to sort this out. We can sort it out
that way. The reason why jay Z would see it
as extortion is you got to start from the perspective
from jay Z of I didn't do this. So if
you get a letter like that and you didn't do this,
(17:38):
why would I do.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Any sort of legal procedure.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
But when you think about the way jay Z's looking
at it, it's okay, I haven't been named in something,
and if I don't do this mediation, what happens then
I'm named.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
I'm subject to public scrutiny.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Now everybody believes that I did this thing that I
said I didn't do, which, as you and I know
Steve and A, when somebody's name is put out there
for a crime, a lot of times people believe it
before they find out the facts. So for jay Z,
it appears to be an extortion attempt because he's saying, look,
you're just trying to do this to get me for money.
If I don't come to mediation, then you're gonna expose me, which,
in a sense did happen. His name got out there
(18:14):
and now in order to not do that, I've got
to pay you money and go through this mediation. So
from his perspective, it's an extortion attempt because if he
doesn't cooperate with the mediation, then his name's out there
unless he pays money in some way.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
That's what that's why they qualify it as extortion.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
His response was swift, no question about that. In a
strongly worded statement, he categorically denied any any truth to
these allegations that have been levied against him and said
he wanted to give Busby one red penny quote unquote,
and challenged Buzzby to follow a criminal lawsuit rather than
a civil one. What are we to make of that
point that jay Z made because it resonated with me, Ryan,
(18:55):
from the standpoint that he was saying, listen, if this,
if this is crime, if this is a crime that happened,
then this is so heinous.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
You know, where's the criminal charges? Bring it on. That's
basically was what jay Z was saying.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yeah, stephen A, It's like he's saying, hey, look I'm innocent,
so bring it all at me. If you think it's that,
if you think I committed a crime, file a criminal charge.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
A couple things there.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
First, Tony Buzzby said in response to that, Hey, I'm
considering that it's up to my client. I'm going to
leave that to her. There's a lot of different complications
in this. The first thing is somebody might be able
to file a criminal complaint in this case, or let's
say Tony Buzzby could in some ways, but it's up
to prosecutors to prosecute that case. So it's not as
if you just go in and say, hey, I'm going
(19:37):
to file a criminal charge against you.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Not how it works. Prosecutor would have to be able
to take up the case.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
The other thing is, in the case like this, this
happened all the way back in two thousand, right, so
this is over twenty years ago, and if a prosecutor
is looking at a case like this, they're looking at
what's the evidence, Like who are the witnesses. This is
one of the reasons why Jay Z is actually requesting
right now in a filing that the.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Name be revealed of the Jane Doe here.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
He's trying to figure out, Okay, if you've made this claim,
let's hear some witnesses. Let's try to see the evidence
here let's try to let me try to get a sense.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Of what my case would be here.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
But the real difficult part of this is the statute
of limitations for first degree rape in New York State.
If this is a New York State case that right
now doesn't have a statute of limitations, back then depending
on the charge, there could be a statute of limitations.
So it gets a little complicated there. But if this
is a first degree forcible rate kind of case that
(20:34):
Tony Buzby seems to be saying it is here at
least in these filings, charges could be a possibility, But
filing a criminal complaint is different from prosecutors taking up
that case and making a criminal charge happened if the
allegations are true.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
The alleged victim was thirteen at the time, which means
she's now grown.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
So how likely is it that she will be named.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
It's a tough scenario. They're asking the judge to talk
about it. We can't know for sure. There's a couple
different reasons. First, you name a client, you name a
Jane Doe. In a case of this, the argument is
generally this, you weigh the public need to have the
information and the defendants right in some ways to have
the information with the needs of the particular Jane Doe
involved in here. What do I mean by that, Well,
(21:21):
there's another side of this if you look at it
from the Jane Doe's perspective of is there.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
The possibility for retribution?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
What would happen to that person if their name was revealed?
That's one thing a judge would weigh on jay z side.
They're going to weigh the public interest of it, is
there something that requires this to be out there?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Does it in some way help the defendant build their case?
So right now, I look at a case.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Like this and I say it's an unknown because you
just don't know how a judge is going to decide
in this case. And we also, here's the big thing,
stephen A. We don't know the evidence in the details here.
What we have right now is a claim from someone
from over twenty years ago that this happened. Not saying
it's not true, not saying the allegations aren't to be believed,
just saying it's hard to know what's happening here until
(22:05):
you have more evidence and more information out there.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
But he has a right to know who she is
now they might not be revealed to the public, but
if he's being accused, he has a right to know
who he is being accused by. If not now, then
obviously at some point that is expected to be the case, right.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
And definitely that will happen eventually.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
And you look at a case like this Stephen that
what becomes really interesting is this is a civil case.
So I mentioned before that's her money damages. But if
this goes ahead as a civil case, so right now,
jay Z is asking that it be thrown out, either
reveal the name or throw it out.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
If they don't throw it out and.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
It goes forward, so if it's not dismissed, then you
have things like depositions that happen.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
In those depositions, jay Z is interviewed.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
The accuser, the person who's accusing him of the crime,
is interviewed, and that's where things get very interesting.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
See.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I look at a case like this and I think
back to what we saw in the p.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Didy case, the allegations that came out there, and I
look back to what happened in that case. Allegations, Investigators
started interviewing people, started talking about different things, and eventually
reco charges were filed, not saying jay Z.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Is related to that in any way. But one thing
I think jay.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Z has got to be concerned about is if this
case goes forward those depositions, he's got to answer all
kinds of questions under oath. If you lie in depositions,
you face the threat of perjury, which is an offense,
which is a criminal offense. So in those instances, what
becomes interesting is what's revealed there. This is one of
the reasons why he has a criminal lawyer, not because
(23:35):
we're saying, hey, he did something wrong, but you get
a criminal lawyer in a civil case like this because
of what could happen of where an investigation could lead
you process a civil case, you never know if authorities
might be looking at that in some way, investigating that
in some way to see if there's some other charge,
to see if there's some charge that might need to
(23:55):
be brought. So that's where this thing gets very complicated. Yes,
at some point he will learn the identity, But the
question is once he learns that identity and those depositions happen,
what happens next?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Could you illustrate because one of the things that I've
been making a point of is that you know, Listen,
I don't know what happened, and I'm certainly not going
to pretend to know what happened. I've known him for
twenty five years, so I've been on the record saying
I can't believe that the person that I've known for
twenty five years would be capable of such a thing.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
I don't believe it. But that's as far as.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Anybody, any human being, as far as far as I'm concerned,
can go. To go any further than that would be
utterly irresponsible. But what I want to also do is
highlight the difference right now people are acting like to
me when you bring up P Diddy. People bring up him,
and they bring up P Diddy in the same sentence
five his reasons, and I'm like, well, Homeland Security showed
up the P Diddy's properties in Miami and Los Angeles.
(24:48):
Ultimately an arrest was forthcoming, which he knew, which is
why he came to New York. And ultimately he was arrested,
and he has been incarcerated and denied bill not one,
not two, but three For Tom's that clearly is not
the case here. Should jay Z be fearful that it
could be the case. Is this the kind of thing
(25:10):
that we're looking at down the line potentially.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
I'm glad you asked that question, because I want to
distinguish between what we're seeing right now, stephen A, with
the jay Z situation, and what we saw in the
Diddy situation. There As you mentioned, rate on his home
lengthy investigation, going at even the charges, talking about a
criminal enterprise, his companies and all that, not only in
him not only involved in making records, but having this
(25:35):
criminal enterprise with these free costs.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I would not connect. I'd be loath right now to
connect the P.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Diddy case with jay Z, and for one really big
reason and then other smaller reasons. The big reason is
in the Diddy Combs case, they're arguing that he set
up this entire criminal enterprise, and part of this enterprise
worth these free costs. That's not being suggested in the
jay Z case. The jay Z case is suggesting, at
(26:02):
least the accusation is he was at this party that P.
Diddy was throwing and that there was a sexual assault
that occurred, and that jay Z committed it. Completely different circumstances,
completely different situation.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Do I know if it could go there and something
could happen.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
We don't know at this point, As you said, we
don't know enough information about that right now. But that's
a big difference the other differences here you talked about
should he be fearful, I would say there has to
be concern. And the reason there has to be concerned
is and we talked about this when we talked about
the Ditty case. We talked about the idea that there
were all these people involved. Even in the jan and
(26:38):
Dos case. With jay Z, she claims that she runs
out and nobody did anything.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
One of the things.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
US attorneys said when they were doing the Ditty case
was when they made that big announcement P. Diddy has
been arrested, they made the point of our investigation is
on going, they.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Are not stopping. That was not the end of it.
So why I think jay Z should be concerned.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
He's saying he didn't do anything, but and on its face,
let's assume that's the case. Why he should be concerned
is being involved in the orbit. That is P Diddy
being involved in the orbit of this situation.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Being involved in the.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Orbit of the claims that Jane Do made piques the
attention of investigators. This is just how investigators think when
they file a claim. When they see a claim like
p Didy and as expansive as that was, and they
think about all the people that might have been involved
or seen something or been there. They're trained to look
at this and say who else might have been involved?
(27:34):
Are there any other cases out there? So when they
see this, if I'm his lawyer, I'm thinking, Okay, I've
got to at least make sure he's not tied into
that in any way, and I've got to at least
expect investigators to maybe look at, keep an ear, keep
an eye on, and maybe ask questions about whether there's
any intersection in this case to that case. See, it's
(27:57):
an interesting difference there, because it's not to say, oh,
there's going to be a concern that he'll be involved
in the.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Ditty criminal enterprise.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
It's more concern of investigators follow the trail of whatever
evidence they find and whatever they hear and whatever they see, and.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
What you have to wonder about and worry about.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
I think be concerned about if you're Jay Z, is
our investigators eventually going to ask questions in some way
of me because of this case that's been filed against me.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
As you well know, Rock Nation has a partnership deal
with the National Football League to produce a Super Bowl
halftime show, and so naturally, when these allegations got aimed
at jay Z, a lot of people were waiting to
hear from the National Football League to see what it
was going to do, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had
this to say this week when asked about the suit. Quote,
(28:44):
we are aware of the civil allegations and jay Z's
really strong response to that. We know obviously that litigation
is happening, but from our standpoint, our relationship is not
changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
End quote Number one.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
From a legal perspective, how common of a position was
that to receive from an entity like the NFL? And
number two, what kind of effect, if any at all,
do you think will have on this ongoing situation?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
So number one, I'll admit stephen A.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
I was surprised to see that only because my sense
usually when you talk about organizations like the NFL and
claims against partners who have been accused of really heinous
situations is basically no comments or we're waiting to see
what happens with the evidence, That would be the first thought.
Perhaps there was some sort of discussion that happened after
these claim surface, and Roda Gudell was made to feel that, hey,
(29:43):
there's nothing to see here. This is something that's going
to go away. So maybe that was why they felt
comfortable making that response saying I'm going to stand by
a jay Z and keep working with Rock Nation. But
I got to say I was surprised it just because
usually we're used to seeing the NFL say, hey, if
there's anything even a semblance of something that could tarnish.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Our name and our brand in any way, we're gonna
at least say let's wait and see what happens here.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
We're gonna at least say no comment, We'll see as
it comes. We'll we're just following whatever happens. Come me
your second question.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Again, I said, how will this affect it?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
How do you think this will the NFL's position with
jay Z at this particular moment of time affect things
moving forward, whether it be their relationship with him or
this overall case.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I think it's interesting when I look at this, will
the NFL's relationship with him affect the processing of the case.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
I don't think it will affect what authorities do or
what a judge might do.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
I think what becomes interesting in all of this is
how does this case process based on that relationship he
has with the NFL and based on what jay Z
does and has. One thing we know about jay Z
is he has a deep pocket. So and that was
part of what you brought up here. Hey, just because
I have money doesn't mean you can come at me
for something that I'm saying I'm innocent for. But if
(31:01):
you think about where maybe the Jane Doe's lawyer is
coming from, if you think about it of hey, you've
got finances, you did something, I'm coming after you, maybe
that makes him continue to press the case. Maybe that
makes him continue to say, hey, I'm not giving up
on this, not just for money, but more from the
sense of especially when you talk about Tony Busby, more
(31:22):
from the sense of this is a person who says, Hey,
I'm fighting on behalf of the unknowns against the superstars
who think they can do things and just get away
with it. I'm the person who's going to bring those
people to justice. So the more that jay Z has
people stand by him, Obviously, for him, that's a good
thing that bolsters his claim of hey, I've done nothing
(31:44):
wrong in the court of public opinion. But I think
for Jane Doe and her attorney, the sense is, hey,
this is a person in our opinion, because we believe
the allegations are true. There's a person who thinks he
can do what he wants and won't be held accountable,
and we're not going to start until there's accountability. I
tell you this is a complicated case where we got
to wait for a lot of information to come out.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's twenty four years after the fact.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
A lot of people have made noise about that doesn't
mean anything because we know how often women have been
victimized and how they've been reluctant to come forward.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
The laws have.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Changed, society has changed. A heightened level of sensitivity has
really kicked up as well. Even in these times where
I think that people are far more understanding and men
have no choice but to be far more receptive to
these things that women have been telling us that they
have been enduring and experiencing for quite a long time.
What are we to make of it being coming to
(32:40):
light twenty four years later, these allegations.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
That they mean more to the public and to all
of us now. And that's not to say they didn't
mean anything before. That's to say you can even see
it in the law of stephen A based on how
this We talked earlier about whether or not a case
could be brought a criminal complaint. When you talk about
that years ago there was a statute of limitation.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
For certain degrees of rape. That was only five.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
Years Those laws have been changed significantly now there's much more.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
But that's part of the problem of this case. It
happened so long ago. Depending on if.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Prosecutors took up a case, it could affect whether or
not the statue of the limitations applies. But even in
the law, is what I'm saying. Even in the law,
our way of viewing cases like this has changed drastically.
But in the public, I think is where it really matters.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Stephen A.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
We look at cases like this and we say, people
who are in power, who did bad things to others
have to be held accountable. I want to say it again,
that is not me saying anything about jay Z. What
that's saying is when you talk about authorities, there is
not some sense of hey, this happened twenty four years ago,
(33:48):
not a lot of evidence, nothing to see here. We're
just going to move on and prosecute cases from today.
There is a real sense on behalf of law enforcement
and authorities and courts and everyone to say, hey, these
cases don't go away because they're old, if the statute
of limitation doesn't apply, and they can be hurt. And
when you talk about investigations, this is what I thought
was so interesting about the Ditty case, and I think
(34:09):
resonates throughout the entertainment industry. I think investigators are now
looking at cases like this, the Ditty Case and beyond
and saying, when we get a sense of wrongdoing, we
are not letting that go. We are not just letting
that pass by and keeping an eye out out for
it and will there be enough evidence.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
No, we're going to move on.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
This is we are going to doggedly pursue something where
we have a good faith belief that there is a
crime and it doesn't matter if it's old, and it
doesn't matter if it might not fit in the particular
context of what you might think the crime might be
on its face.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
We're gonna look deeper see if there's some enterprise here.
See if there's something else going on. Stephen A. I
can't even tell you haven't been a lawyer for well
over two decades.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
It is a massive, massive shift in the way we
look at survivors of sexual assault.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Massive four.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I think people thought, Hey, if I don't say something quickly,
if I don't do something quickly, I don't have a chance.
And even if I do, my name's going to be
dragged to the mud. I'm going to be tortured through
this entire process. Even in then I might not get justice.
Now we live in a different world. Now these cases
are being heard. There is a sense on behalf of
law enforcement, judges others to say, let's hear the evidence,
(35:21):
let's see what's here, let's try to figure out these cases.
And in a sense, we are way more as a society,
both in the courts and in public opinion, to say
people who make claims are to be believed. Let us
hear it, let us figure it out, and let us
hear the full story.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Ryan Smith, Legal land List, ESPN, ABC. I'm proud to
call you a colleague and a contemporary. I'm really proud
of the work that you're doing. I appreciate you edifying
this show and this audience or every time you come
home on Man, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
Man.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
I'll talk to you soon anytime.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Man, Take care, all right, The one and only Ryan
Smith right here with Steven A and Steven A Smith Show.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Coming up.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Travis Hunter takes home a whole of postseason awards ahead
of the Heisman Trophy presentation this weekend. But is he
a lot for the biggest individual prize in college football?
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I'll get into that.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
And Katelyn Clark acknowledges her predecessors and white privilege as
she's named Time Athlete of the Year. Those stories are
more with your boy up next eleven A Smith Show,
Don't go anywhere. Okay, everybody, you know what Tom it is.
(36:31):
It's Tom for Stephen A Sports Picks. Let's be real, y'all.
If there's one thing that's obvious is that I love sports.
I report on it, I debate it, and of course
I always enjoy watching it.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
It's my passion, always has been, always will be.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
And that's why I've teamed up with Prize Peckts and
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Because Prize Picks is the largest fantasy sports platform in
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(37:21):
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is play a five dollar lineup on Prospects.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
And you'll get fifty dollars instantly. Now let's see my
winning picks today. I'll be making picks for the Sunday's
football games. First up, we've got the Baltimore Ravens quarterback
Lamar Jackson going up against the New York Giants. More
or less than two one hundred and seventeen and a
half pass yards. He's going against the New York Giants
two hundred and seventeen yards passes.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Does a trick question? That's a trick question.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
The only way he's not gonna throw for more than
hundred and seventeen yards. He decided out to throw the
ball because he can run on them all day.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
That's it. That's it. So I'm gonna go with more
as a particular answer to this question.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Next up, we've got to Washington command this quarterback Jaden
Daniels going up against the New Orleans Saints more or
less two one one hundred and thirteen and a half
passing yards. It's jad and Daniels. New Orleans is done
seasons over, not a good team. They'll be looking for
a new coach after this season. Jayden Daniels in Washington's
trying to play for a playoff spot. I think more
(38:17):
is the way to go with this one as well.
Next up, we have Miami Dolphins quarterback two Tungue Valowa
going up against the Houston Texans more or less than
two hundred and sixty eight and a half passing yards Houston.
I still expect them to make some noise, et cetera.
But I gotta tell you something right now, I think
Tour can put up some numbers in this game as well.
I really really do. I think that Houston's appears vulnerable.
(38:39):
I can see this being a high scoring contest. Obviously,
anytime you got Tyreek Hill on the team or two
players can get you two hundred you know, three players
rather than get you two hundred and sixty eight.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yards with that, brother, So I'm gonna go with more.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Finally, we've got New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito, not
Danny DeVito, not him, Tommy DeVito going up against the
Baltimore Ravens more or less than one hundred and seventy
eight and a half passing yard duds.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I have no faith in anything associated with the Giants
at this point, zero zero.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
I know that Baltimore's defensive suspect, I get that, but
I have no faith in the New York Giants. Anything
that is associated with them should be less because their
value dissipates with each passing week.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Okay, I'm on the verge of saying they need new ownership.
It's just bad. It's just bad.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
There we gonna go with less for Tommy DeVito in
the New York Giants one hundred and seventy eight and
a half passing yards. I think that's entirely too much
when it comes to him. That's just where I'm.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
At with it. Either way you slice it, it's.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
More and more and more and less. That's three out
of four. That ain't bad. Matter of fact, it's pretty
damn good. That's what prospects of breenshit. Welcome back to
Steph Nick Smith Show. Let me get into some sports
headlines in a moment. All right, that's what I plan
on doing. But I want to start by addressing my
(39:55):
brother Kenny Smith over at T and T. Kenny the Jessmit,
that's my dog, right, Kenny and I'll be going head
to head supposedly in Las Vegas tomorrow afternoon in a
free throw shooting contest ahead of the Emirates NBA Cup Semifinals.
Now we all know Kenny Smith is a two time
NBA champion and the sharp shooter, so he decided to
handicap the event and shoot his free throws with his
left hand. I want you to know, I feel this
(40:17):
is so disrespectful. This is so disrespectful to me. I mean,
the man is just disrespecting to me. Okay, but that's
all right because you see ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
First of all, it's all in fun.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
That's my brother right there, His big brother, Vincus Smith,
was the one that trained me and helped me get
a basketball scholarship to Winston Salem State. Kenny Smith's family
and myself go back a very, very long ways. It's
my brother from another mother. I love him to death,
but he was disrespectful. He really really was disrespectful. Now,
damn it. I ain't no damn NBA player. Hell I
wasn't even a college player as far as I'm concerned,
(40:48):
because I was too damn injury prone. But the bottom
line is, ain't no scrub. I can play. I can
damn sure shoot. And to sit up there and talk
about he's gonna hurt me left handed, I'm like, damn,
he had to come at me like that. That wasn't
really really, you know, but I see what he's doing here,
you see, let's get down to the nitty gritty. Shaq
was reluctant to go against me in the free throw
(41:08):
contest for obvious reasons. David shoots fifty percent of free
throws for fifty five percent of free throws for his career.
We understand that he's not a free throw shooter. All right, Chuck,
you know that's my man right there. He's been supportive
of me, so I'm not gonna go at him, even
though I saw I'm breathing.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Heavy the other day. It's all right, It's okay, Kenny.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
You know, the TNT crew is the Krem Dela Krem
did the elite, and I'm honored to be joining them
tomorrow afternoon before we do NBA Count on the ESPN
Saturday night. I gotta be there with them three thirty
pm Eastern time, live in Vegas. I'm just wondering why
the hell is alimited to free throw shooter? Why why
don't we just have a shooting contest since you want to,
since you want to.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Be all big, bad and bold. While we got to
go to the free throw line we are, why can't
we go to the wing. Why can't we go to
the quarters? Why can't we shoot beyond the three point line?
Ain't nobody scared, Kenny? Anybody scared? You understand I ain't
got to play against you.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
You adn't say say even over everybody teasy you're about
tonabs whatever. I don't do that because I know you
the jet I know you a bad brother. You und
to see you bust my ass all day, every day
in a game.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
But just to shoot the ball. I mean, why are
we living in ourselves to free throw? Free throw? Ain't
nobody scared? Ain't nobody scared. I'm good, I'm good with it.
What's up? That's what I want to say. I ain't
asking Chuck and Shock the same because we know better. Y'all.
Y'all know what Tom. That is all right?
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Ernie Johnson, I ain't messing with you. You the godfather, my brother.
I love you to death. Ernie will probably slay all
of us. But Kenny, I see you, I see you Saturday, Saturday.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
I'll be there. I will be there. Now, let me
move on.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Let's get to some of the sports headlines, real sports headlines.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
I want to begin with Thursday night football.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Last night in San Francisco, the Los Angeles Rams came
into town and essentially ended the Niner season, beating them
twelve to six. But the biggest headline of the night
was what we saw from the NINAS linebacker group, specifically
the Andondre Campbell. Campbell was asked to enter the game
the two starters, Dre Greenlaw and d Winters were dealing
with injuries. Campbell refused to enter the game and then
(43:08):
eventually left the field during the fourth quarter. Head coach
Kyle Shanahan said the plan was for Campbell to enter
the game after Greenlaw went down with knee sotness. As mentioned,
Campbell refused to play and left the field and the team,
leaving the locker room fuming afterwards. Here's what nana's quarterback
on cornerback Tavarius Ward said after the game quote, He's
a professional, He's been playing for a long time. If
he didn't want to play, shouldn't have dressed out. He
(43:29):
could have told them that before the game. I feel
like that was some sucker shit that he did. It
definitely hurt the team. D went down and we needed
a linebacker, So for him to do that, that's some
sucker stuff to me. In my opinion, He's probably going
to get cut soon, So it is what it is,
ladies and gentlemen. Had that been me, he'd have been
cut by the time he got out the shower. And
(43:53):
that's assuming we need to let him in the shower.
If he had walked off the field, I'd have made
sure he was no longer a member of the team
before he left that damn locker room. It's one of
the most egregious things. If you don't want to play,
ladies and gentlemen. He could have refused to dress for
the game. People would have said, Yo, that's business, that's
what comes with it. We understand you might have been
(44:15):
a bit salty about it or whatever, but never something
like this. Understand the magnitude of what Devondre Campbell did.
He's on the sideline in uniform, dressed to play, and
not one but two of his teammates go down and
they go to him, who's a former All Pro by
the way, and he refused to enter the game and
(44:38):
then walked off the field. This is in the middle
of the game, this is in the third quarter. There
is nothing on the planet that he can say to
a player to justify doing that. We're not players, and
we know how fed up that is. That is the
epitome of leaving a soldier on the field in the
(45:00):
field of battle.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
That is the epitome of abandoning your teammates.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
That is the epitome of selling out.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
It is unforgivable. His career may be in jeopardy because
of this, and no one will defend him.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
You see the way George Kittle talked about him, You
see the way Javarius Ward talked about him. You think
they'd only two that feel that way. Let me tell
you something. He's lucky he heard that, because you know
what's more conspicuous, what's most palpable, what's more riveting than
their words? You see those words by there by George Kittle.
I don't like distractions on the sideline. I think that's ignorant,
(45:41):
and I think it's just dumb. It's just stupid, and
it's very immature. I just don't see how you could
do something like that to your team. It's one person
making a selfish decision. I've never been around anybody that's
ever done that, and I hope I'm never around anybody
who does that.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Again. That's George Kittle, sit all pro tight end.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
Do you understand that what he did, where it's really
gonna be riveting is with silence.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
See those brothers spoke. Ninety nine percent of the.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
League is gonna look at him and be like, man,
I don't want that dude, that's my Teammate't got nothing to.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Say to him.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
They're gonna have the Kyle Shanahan approaching the postseason as
postgame news conference last night where he said, why are
we talking about him? He's that's history. In other words,
he's done. It's over. It's over.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
You can't blame Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
I don't care what you can say whatever you want.
Not before the game is one thing to dress in
uniform for the game to be ongoing, and then for
you to quit and walk.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Into the locker room.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
By refusing to enter the game when called upon in
the middle of the game, it's unforgivable. It's unforgivable. Maybe
somebody will forgive.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Him, but I doubt it. Listen up, y'all, I love football.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
There's nothing like being in the middle of the action
at a football game, being surrounded by fans explosive cheers
as the running back carries the ball into the end
zone for that winning touchdown. You can't get that type
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There's so many ways to save.
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That's right.
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Speaker 1 (48:40):
Game time?
Speaker 2 (48:41):
Let's get to some quick hitters in the headlines that
I want to start with. Caitlyn Clarker right, the Indiana
Fever star, was named Tom Magazine's Athlete of the Year
earlier this week, and she took time to acknowledge that
race played the role in her success this year. Here's
a passage from the article in Times magazine quote. I
want to say I've earned every single thing, but as
a white person, there is privilege.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
A lot of those players.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
In the league that have been really good have been
black players. This league has been kind of been built
on them. The more we can appreciate that highlight that
talk about that, I think it's very important.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
I have to continue to try to change that.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
The more we can elevate black women, that's going to
be a beautiful thing end quote. You see why I
had no problem with her being Times Athlete of the Year.
You see why I said that she should have been
on Team USA.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
You see why I.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Had to go off on the likes of Ryl Swoops
and others who were clearly distant and dismissed and dismissive
of her. No matter how much they try to deny it,
there was resentment towards her.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
And here's why I said it was stupid because when.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
She came into into the w NBA for twenty two
plus years, they had been flying commercial. They were begging
for chartered flights. She arrives there and two weeks later
they got chartered flights. She automatically and instantaneously improved the conditions.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Attendance is still lagging.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
WNBA is still losing money compared to what you would
hope it would earn, but clearly things are upward trending trajectory.
It's improving and she has everything to do with it.
Attendance for Indiana Fever games Are you kidding me? MWNBA
draft games on ABC, ESPN television ratings.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
She's directly responsible and people were resenting.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
Her for it, like she was the cause of the
problems that they had for the lack of recognition. No,
she just happened to be born white, that's it. Caitlin
Clark hasn't spoken against anybody. She has an assistant in
denying anybody else the privileges they deserve. If anything, she's
tried to provide assistance. A rising tide lifts all boats.
(50:47):
She's trying to be the rising tide that lifts the boats.
And it was sisters resentful of her, Be resentful of
the system, be resentful of the folks, primarily to white
folks who basically disenfranchised y'all all of these years before
she came along, who denied you the acclaim and the
(51:10):
allure and the prophet you richly deserved. But you don't
take that out on Kaitlyn Clark, not her. She's the
one that assists you. When black folks was marching during
the Civil Rights era and fighting every battle they possibly could,
(51:33):
they weren't dismissive, nor did they assist in denigrating the
white people who marched with them.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
They saved the vendom for those who wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
You don't run away from people who support you, You
run to them, especially when they're in a better position
than you to help you. But it still seems like
people are slow their way to a form of progressive
(52:04):
thinking that enables them to appreciate the Caitlin Clarks of the.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
World instead of resenting.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Her, which means, as always, no matter how far we've come,
we still have a ways to go. Quick hit the
number two takes us to Tempe, Arizona, where Bronnie James
played in his first road game for the South Bay
Lakers and had a career night. The Lakers rookie scored
a game high thirty points and thirteen of twenty three
shooting as the South Bay Lakers fell to the Valley Suns,
one of six one hundred. Bronnie, who was the fifty
(52:30):
fifth pick in the NBA Draft, is now averaging fourteen points,
three and a half rebounds, and two point five assistant
four games in the G League. I'm just happy he
got action. I'm just happy that he showed up on
a road game and got reps in the whole lebron James,
Bronnie James. Things is done now. It's about Bronnie James
(52:51):
earning his stripes and participating against that lesser competition and
busting there, you know what, to show that he deserves
to be in the NBA, Because even though people are
gonna hate no matter what, the legitimacy of their arguments
are gonna dissipate drastically once you continue to show out
like that, once you continue to show that you belong
(53:12):
like you started showing last night. Congratulations to Brownie James,
but keep it up. It's a marathon, baby, it ain't
a sprint. And nobody is in a better position to
know that than your father, who is on a Mount
Rushmore basketball. One of the all time greats, Lebron ain't perfect,
and I'm wanted the first to point out his imperfections
on a basketball cote, of course, nowhere else. But let
(53:34):
me tell you something. He's an all time great. He's
never cheated the game, and that brother works his tail
of to improve all the time. Emulate Pops to the
best of your ability, and you'll.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Be just fine.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
For our last quick hit, I want to give major
props to Travis Hunter of the Colorado Buffaloes, Hunter, who's
a favorite to win the Heisman this weekend. Last night,
at the thirty fourth Annual College Football Award Show on
ESPN took home four count them four big awards. He
won the Associated Press Football Player of the Year, receiving
twenty six to forty three votes Thursday from a panel
of eightp top twenty five voters. In addition to that,
(54:13):
he also won a Walter Camp Awards Player of the
Year along with the Chuck betten Rick Award as a
top defensive player. And finally, Hunter won the Bolitnikoff Award
that honor is the best wide.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
Receiver in the country. He clearly should win the Heisman.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
That kid from Boise State, that running back ain't no
joke though, But I'm Travis Hunter all day, every day,
no questioning. He deserves the Heisman, and I hope he
gets it. I'm proud of him. Four point oh GPA,
special kids, special talent, great head on his shoulders, wishing
him nothing but the best. He really deserves it. I'm
(54:45):
really happy for him. But let's not stop there. Close
the deal. Give that brother the Heisman. He's earned it.
Coming up, a Bombshall report reveals the FBI had more
than two dozen confidential informants in the crowd during raid
on the Capitol on January sixth.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
What does it all mean, I'll get into that. This
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Speaker 1 (56:37):
Welcome back to Stephen A. Smith show.
Speaker 2 (56:39):
I want to get into some politics before we get
on out of here, as we've now enter the final
month of Joe Biden's presidency, and for the sake of argument,
it hasn't been a good one. The Democrats lost to
White House, Senate and House in November into November election. Meanwhile,
this week, FBI Director Christopher Ray announced plans to resign
at the end of the body administration as President elect
(57:01):
Donald Trump takes office in January. The news comes amissed
a bombshell report from the Justice Department that revealed the
FBI had at least twenty six confidential informants on the
ground when the capital was stormed on January sixth, twenty
twenty one. The report says most of the informants engaged
in illegal activity during the chaos.
Speaker 1 (57:20):
The Justice Department says only three of.
Speaker 2 (57:21):
Its twenty six informants president had been instructed to observe
potential domestic terrorist suspects on the day of the riot.
The rest of the twenty three appeared to have gone
to the capital on their own accord. Upon hearing news
of the report, Vice President elect JD. Vance posted the
following on X quote for those keeping score at home,
this was labeled a dangerous conspiracy thirty months ago.
Speaker 1 (57:43):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (57:45):
So twenty three folks for the FBI win the crowd,
and we're just finding that out. Didn't hear anything about
that for the election. Didn't hear anything about that when
the quote unquote insurrection was broached by Vice President. Kamala
(58:07):
Harris is a Democratic nominee by President Biden. Before her,
by Democrats in both the House and the Senate, as
they articulated the belief that Donald Trump was a danger
to democracy and using this as a profound, illuminating bullet point.
Speaker 1 (58:29):
To make that case.
Speaker 2 (58:31):
And now here we are yet again finding even more
evidence to Donald Trump's claims when he articulated that process
is rigged the Democrats or this, or that they're talking
about us, but look at what they do. We don't
know all the details. It's a report Justice Department comes
(58:51):
out with this. That's not my big issue. My big
issue is that I'm really really sick and tired of
every time I turn around finding something else that the
Democrats have lied about or downplayed or misrepresented along the way,
where's the one and a half billion dollars that was
(59:12):
given to the Democratic Party?
Speaker 1 (59:16):
Where's it? Where the money go? Why was Oprah given
too and a half million?
Speaker 2 (59:27):
Why was our Shopton's National Action that we're giving that
much money before interviews? By the way, why I think
it was five hundred k for the National Action Network.
Speaker 3 (59:40):
Why?
Speaker 1 (59:42):
I want to be clear, I.
Speaker 2 (59:44):
Don't have any problem with the National Action Network taking
that money because.
Speaker 1 (59:48):
They don't have a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (59:50):
I have more of a problem with Oprah taking two
and a half million when she's worth over a billion.
Speaker 1 (59:57):
But speaking to.
Speaker 2 (59:58):
Us as if and Soul were so immersed in supporting
Kamala Harris, then why didn't you do it for free?
Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
I'm just asking.
Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I'm just asking these things because I think it's important
and I think that the.
Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
Time has arrived where we have to stop.
Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
Letting stuff go all the time, particularly when it comes
to the left. I mean, I see Republicans like Megan
Kelly or Officer Tatum or a Canvas Owens or you know,
the showing Hannities of the world that you.
Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Know what I'm getting tired of. I'm getting you know
what I'm.
Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Getting to the Democratic Party, you know what I'm getting really.
Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Pissed off about. I'm getting really ticked off.
Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
And every time they open their mouth about something pertaining
to y'all, they seem right.
Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
I would love to argue with Sean Handedy.
Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
How can I Do you know what Sean Handedy used
to do to me when I told him Kamala Harris
had a chance. He'd laugh, like literally genuinely giggle. He'd
go on TV and put on his straight face to.
Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Y'all, I've got to be concerned this selection can go
either way, he laughed. He wasn't concerned about.
Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Her before I called out Biden. He was calling Biden
sleepy Joe. What's percolating on social media today? Just go
and look at it, y'all. Joe Biden is caught.
Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
Napping at an African summit in Angola.
Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
For at least a full minute. They didn't say whether
he was snoring or not. That's about all I was missing,
but he was clearly sleep.
Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
I'm not going to pardon my son.
Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
I want to say for the record, I have no
problem with him pardoning, pardoning Hunter Bidy.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
I had a problem with.
Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
Him trying to act like it was unjust what was
being done in pursuit of getting after my son. Because
they wanted to get to me. All you had to
say was I'm pardoning my son because he's my son.
You couldn't just say that, though. You know why you
couldn't say that, President Biden, because you had been telling
us you it was the last.
Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Thing that you were you were you were going to do.
Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
And why did you say that? Why they karn Jean Pierre.
Remember as she said, he will absolutely not pardon his son.
It's all over social media right now. They kept saying that,
it's everywhere. How many times did the Democrats tell us.
No one's above the law. No one's above the law.
No one's above the law.
Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Anti Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (01:03:04):
Warren, who makes you feel like your soul is going
to hell if you don't agree to what her inconsistency
after inconsistency after inconsistency. We can argue policies, we can
argue politics all day long. But the Democrats worked really,
(01:03:30):
really diligently to make the case that the right had
a monopoly on insidious, evil tendencies, corrupt tendencies, duplicitous, hypocritical,
(01:03:51):
untruthful tendencies. And every time they made those accusations, turn
around and find out that at least some of them
are guilty of the same shit. I don't know about y'all,
but I'm sick of all of it. I'm sick of
(01:04:12):
all of it. They've actually made Donald Trump look like
he was right instead of them.
Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Think about that. He didn't just get to raise his
fist on election night as a victor.
Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
He's been raising it every night ever since for one
different issue after another that he keeps winning because he
keeps highlighting what they lied about.
Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
I'm sick of it. I have nothing to say, enjoy
y'all weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
I gotta get to Vegas for the Emirate Cup semi
finals in the National basket Ball Association, and outside of that,
I'm just sick of all of this and I'm sick
of a lot of people, so I'm just gonna shut
up for the rest of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
Y'all have a nice night.
Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
M
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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