Stephen A. Smith has publicly criticized podcast hosts Cari Champion and Jemele Hill, alleging rude off-camera behavior and dissatisfaction with how their recent three-hour interview was edited. Smith, a prominent figure in sports media, appeared as a guest on the "Flagrant and Funny" podcast, hosted by his former ESPN colleagues.
During an episode of his own podcast, Smith detailed his experience, stating that after dedicating three hours to the recording, he felt the hosts did not express adequate gratitude and that he overheard disparaging remarks after the show concluded. "I sat down for three hours," Smith said on his podcast. "Three hours with these two ladies, Jemele Hill and Cari Champion. I didn't know what they were going to ask, other than about the NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists), and of course the Jasmine Crocketts and Kamala Harris' of the world."
Smith claimed that the interview was not orchestrated and that he made it clear he had ample time to engage. He also noted that he overheard Champion questioning the benefit of his appearance. "I even heard Cari Champion say, 'I don't know if it benefited us'. Really?" Smith recounted. He highlighted the podcast's subscriber and view counts before and after his appearance, noting significant growth attributed to his participation.
"Once I sat down with them, they've picked up over 30,000 subscribers, they've had over 1 million views - 500,000 over YouTube - but Cari Champion is saying she doesn't know if it did them any good. A simple thank you would have sufficed," Smith stated.
Champion has since addressed the criticism in a video posted to her Instagram account from a beach vacation, where she thanked Smith for his participation. Hill has not yet publicly responded to Smith's comments.
Smith also expressed dissatisfaction with the editing of his remarks, stating that he was promised an unedited version of the interview. He announced a new policy for future interviews, demanding unedited content, open comment sections, and a video copy of all recordings. "I'm not doing any more interviews on YouTube without folks agreeing to make sure that it is completely unedited and that the comment section remains open and that I get a video copy of the interviews that I do," he said.
"I don't think that I should sit down for 3 hours feeling I was promised - my team was promised - an unedited version that would be put out there to the masses, and that I'm deprived of that. I don't appreciate that. I want that interview, Cari, Jemele, and to your team. I want that interview in its entirety put up for everybody to see, showing what was cut out."
The "Flagrant and Funny" podcast episode featuring Smith, published in two parts on YouTube, has garnered close to a million views, significantly outperforming other content on the channel. The second-highest viewed clip reportedly has around 40,000 views.
