As reported by my colleague earlier, Stephen A Smith let out his xenophobic opinion on Shohei Ohtani during First Take today. If we are truly living in a world where the push for diversity carries legitimacy, then the only course of action is to make an example of Smith and drop him.
The idea that someone who needs a translator cannot be the face of a sports league is disgusting, especially when you glance at sports like boxing, where in the U.S., Canelo and Oleksandr Usyk have garnered such an international following even despite their use of translators. Each and every sport has its own native language, everybody expresses and understands it, and that’s ability and performance. Cristiano Ronaldo arrived in the Premier League unable to speak English and went on to become the central attraction.
To hate on the home run leader for his “marketability” as a foreign player is draconian and an example of the long and arduous journey ahead to rid sports of its bigotry and outdated opinions. We could maybe move forward from this incident if this wasn’t the first of a detailed history of Stephen A Smith’s bigoted attitude towards foreign imports.
We have already witnessed Smith deny Mavericks #77 Luka Doncic credit because he is European, which is blatantly xenophobic. Let’s also not pretend that Smith didn’t racially stereotype Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins based on his skin colour, which if I did, I’d be disowned by my own family and then fired, rightly so.
Why should it be any different? Well, let’s tell the truth, it can’t be.
He posted a typical “I’ll get away with it but let’s save face” ‘apology’ video about an hour ago from the time of writing, but as you can see, it was more of a double down on his bigoted opinion, which has absolutely no analytical evidence to support.
Just look at his disrespectful rant aimed towards the Nigerian basketball team, this man has no shame, and it’s about time ESPN cuts loose at the very least to pretend they care about equality.
Should Stephen A Smith face the axe? Why is yes the right answer? Join the discussion on Twitter and make sure to always press those who oppose the multi-culturalism in sport.
