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Stephen A. Smith
You're listening to an iHeart podcast.
Ryan Clark
You see the world differently where others see empty lots. You see blueprints where others sit in lecture halls. Future leaders choose Ferris State University to build something real. Ready to dig in and learn through action. Ferris State gives you the tools, the team and training to unleash your potential with paths to high demand careers and in state tuition for non residents. At Ferris State, students don't just study, they build. They lead, they succeed. Visit Ferris. Edu Ferris State University we build champions.
Stephen A. Smith
At&T has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed like getting through self checkout by yourself. Not guaranteed in a world where Nothing is guaranteed. AT&T is bringing something new to the table. AT&T is introducing a guarantee with connectivity you can depend on deals you want and service you deserve. All or they make it right. Learn more at att.com guarantee@t Connecting Changes Everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.com guarantee for details. We got stuff percolating on Capitol Hill. We got stuff percolating with Bill Belichick and his young girlfriend. We got a whole bunch of other stuff to talk about as well. Especially in my line of work where RG3 and Ryan Clark have gone nuclear. Lot of stuff to get into. Needless to say, I'm here for it. Stephen A. Smith show in the House let's roll. What's up everybody? Welcome to the latest edition of the Stephen A. Smith Show. Coming at you as I love to do at the very least three times a week over the digital airwaves of YouTube and of course, iHeartRadio. As always, I like to pause for a moment to give thanks and gratitude to my listeners, my followers, my subscribers, considering the millions of downloads we've received over the last few months courtesy of iHeartRadio, not to mention the 1.22 million subscribers we've now eclipsed over the digital airwaves of YouTube. It just shows how much the show is growing each and every single passing day. And it wouldn't be possible if it was if it were not for your love and support. I really, really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. On behalf of myself and my team, I thank you for it. Keep the love coming and I'm gonna keep on coming to continue to be notified for all of our newest content. Just click the bell to get notified for that newest content and you too shall consider yourself the latest member of the Stephen A. Smithsonian, your family. And while you're doing that, please don't forget to pick up a copy of my New York Times best selling book Straight Shooter A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes now in paperback. Just go to straightshooterbook.com to get yourself a copy. Once again, that's straight shooterbook.com to get yourself a copy. You see on the screen sometimes is Straight Shooter Media. That's the name of my production company. I named it after my book Straight Shooter Media. So look forward to stuff coming down the pike because I can assure you I'm coming with a few things. Make no mistake about it. As I told y' all, it's a lot to get into. I don't feel like getting into the NBA playoffs just yet because the Minnesota Timberwolves got blown out in Game 1 by the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. From the last three minutes of the half when the Minnesota Timberwolves were a turnover machine and let the Oklahoma City Thunder within four points to a second half where Oklahoma City outscored them by 30, 70 to 40 at one point. I'm just disgusted at the lopsided affair that took place last night. And I went from thinking that this would be a seven game series, OKC would likely win, to thinking I'd be lucky if this series ended. It didn't end rather in five, because that's the level of dominance we saw from OKC, who was playing less than 48 hours after beating the Denver Nuggets in a Game 7, while Minnesota had five days off and just didn't seem to have it when it really counted most in the second half. Courtesy of the New York Knicks playing host and hosting Game one tonight in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers. I'll be all riled up about that. I think that'll be an epic series. I got the Knicks in seven, it could end in six, but for the moment, I got the Knicks in seven. And as that series progresses, we'll talk about that. Let me get started, however, with today's show with a story percolating in sports media in that sports media space involving two colleagues of mine that I need to address. It started with Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark's confrontation the other night, and it's something that we had discussed on Monday's show with Monica McNutt. Well, anyway, Robert Griffin III RG3, as he's affectionately known, my former coworker at ESPN went on his podcast platform and said in the aftermath that it was clear to him that Angel Reese hates Caitlyn Clark. Before we go any further, take a listen to what he said. Exactly. So why do I think Angel Reese hates Caitlyn Clark. It could be the fact that Aaliyah Boston had to save Angel Reese from ending her career. This is a still shot after the foul that Caitlyn Clark put on Angel Reese. Angel Reese tried to hit her, but if it wasn't for Aaliyah Boston putting her arms in the way, Angel Reese would not be playing basketball anymore because she was going to sucker punch Caitlin Clark. Now, you tell me a time when you've seen somebody get filed on a basketball court in a professional league where they tried to almost sucker punch somebody that they were friends with because of a hard foul. So where was this type of reaction last year when Angel Reese got choke slammed by Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun? Y' all remember that? She got filed so hard they kicked Aaliyah Thomas out the game with a flagrant two foul. What did Angel Reese do? Nothing. She didn't get up and try to swing on her. You know why the reaction was different? Because of who did it. And there is a lot of history there with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. You guys remember last year when Angel Reese celebrated Kennedy Carter getting that flagrant foul on the hip check against K against Caitlin Clark? You remember that on the sideline, just, yeah, baby, get her.
Ryan Clark
You get her.
Stephen A. Smith
Who celebrates like that for a flagrant foul on another player if they don't dislike that player? I'll get into RG3's assertion about Andrew Reese getting ready to sucker punch Caitlin Clark in a second. But first, I wanted to show y' all Ryan Clark's response to what y' all just heard RG3 say. This is on the Pivot podcast. Take a look at what Ryan Clark's response was when RG3 jumps on to the hate train or to the angry train and and now follows along with what we saw from Keith Olbermann, what we saw from Dave Portnoy as they poured on to Andrew Reese to make her the villain in Caitlin Clark's heroic or hero story. The one thing we know about RG3 is he's not having conversations at his home about what black women have to endure in this country, about what young black women and athletes like Angel Reese have had to deal with being on the opposite side of Caitlin Clark's rise and ascension into Starf. If you're RG3, when is the last time within your household you've had a conversation about what she's dealing with? You haven't been able to do that because in both of your marriages, you've been married to White women, you haven't had opportunities to have those conversations to educate you on what they're feeling, what black women deal with, what they're seeing when they think of a young angel Reese. And the whole time that he's mimicking angel Reese and bobbing his head and moving his neck with. While he's doing this whole piece, his wife is in the back amening and clapping. And so to me, it's just another situation that now this young lady has to deal with. Whoa, that's a little bit deep. And I'll get into that as well, because some perceive Ryan Clark to having crossed a line there, especially Mr. RG3 himself, who did not take kindly to what y' all just heard, posting another video in response to our to rc. Take a look. But, Ryan, you crossed the line, man. You made it personal and some. I really believe there should be no space in sports media for personal attacks. I've said it before, but certainly personal attacks against wife and children have always been off limits. Ryan, you attack me and my family in a public forum on a level that shows just how low of a human being you are. You can disagree with me all you want, challenge my takes, but keep my family and my wife out of it. That's a boundary that should always be respected, man. Always. Ryan Clark personally attacking me and my family because he disagreed with my sports opinion is a bad look for espn. It's cowardly, it's spineless, and it's weak. Oh, I got a problem with the that RG3 just said there. And I'll get into that in a second, but not before I read to you what Ryan Clark went right back at him after this and said, quote, bruh, you know what it is with me and you? I saved you the entire season on Monday Night Football. I urged people to let you be you, no matter how corny, how bad a teammate you were. I had your back. You're a phony, bro. One of the worst teammates I ever had, both on the field and in tv. You gotta do what you gotta do. I didn't attack your wife. I spoke on what you do on social media and tv. Like I said, I met your wife, and she seemed like a lovely lady that was worth more than the color of her skin. You be good, bro. All of this has led some to call for Clark's firing. Some of those wondering aloud if Clark would still be employed, have called out a white colleague for marrying a black woman. First things first. A couple of things I don't want to hear shit about Ryan Clark being fired. I don't want to hear that. Ryan Clark is my colleague. He is my friend and brother. He is a good. He is a good man and he's a good brother. And there is no way on earth that I would be quiet if he was fired over something like this. I'm not saying he's right and I'll get into that in a second, but this is not a fireable offense. Now, we're going to come back and we're going to bring it. We gonna bring it home. I don't usually talk about ESPN business and I'm not about to right now, other than to say RG3 clearly is not liked by Ryan Clark. What Ryan Clark said, that's not something he normally does. Corny, phony. Those are the kind of things he said specifically about RG3. That's what he feels. Saving them on Monday Night Football, I assume. And it is an assumption that he's talking about the shrapnel of criticism that folks tried to throw in RG3's direction that he tried to assist in shielding RG3 from. But nevertheless, there's a lot to get into here. The first order of business to unpack is this RG3. I'm not as tight with him as I am with Ryan Clark, but I respect RG3 and I do know there's some sensitivities there dating back to the days of, you know, when. When. When he was called the cornball and obviously by. By one of our former colleagues, Roger Rob Parker, on national television. And RG3 admitted with his interview of me on his podcast that that's something that has stayed with him but all of these years, and he felt that it has served to have damaged him. So there's certainly a heightened level of sensitivity there and I understand where RG3 is coming from. I don't consider RG3 a bad dude. Again, just because I'm tight with Ryan Clark doesn't mean that I don't respect RG3 and we don't have a cool relationship, because we do. We might have had disagreements over subject matters we discussed in the past. We might have viewed things differently. But I respect RG3. I like him. I appreciated the job that he did on First Take. And personally speaking, I wish he was still at espn, which is what I said on this podcast. But what I want to address about to directly to RG3 is this. Number one, how do you know Andrew Reese was going to sucker punch Caitlin Clark? What do you mean? We haven't seen stuff like this before for we've seen plenty of times where somebody will get knocked to the ground and then they jump up like they gonna do something and get in one another's face without punches being thrown. You didn't know that Angel Reese was going to suck punch Caitlin Cloth. You have no evidence of that. You could have said it looked that way. But to literally declare that that's what Angel Reese was going to do, that's not factually accurate. So RG3 I think it's important to point that out because by saying what you said about Angel Reese, that was serving to villainize her in a way that would get a reaction from a black man like Ryan Clark, along with various others, including myself, who didn't want to jump to that conclusion. You are right. In terms of, in my opinion, I don't think they particularly like each other. I don't think that Angel Reese likes Caitlin Clark. When you waving a hand in her face when you was beating her for the national title, taunting her. But we have to remember that Caitlin Clark was taunting opponents all the time doing that. So when it was her turn to get her come up, Angel Reese was more than happy to do so. When LSU was en route to winning a national title and supplanting Caitlin Clark in Iowa in the process, the very next year, Caitlin Clark came back and Iowa came back and they gave it to him. And as a result, LSU went and they fell in the midst of all of that. It was a tough season because Angel Reese was receiving vitriol from critics out there. And I don't think it was because of basketball. I think it was because of our behavior towards Angel Reese, which may, in some people's eyes, assist to whatever level of dissent she may feel towards Caitlin Clark. That's neither here nor there. My only point is you used the word sucker punch. I thought that was a bit extreme. And I thought that that was going to get a bunch of people riled up, particularly black men who are protective of black women. So I saw where Ryan Clark was coming from in refuting that statement. RG3 now let me get to Ryan Clark. I love my man rc. I thought he crossed the line when he brought up you, RG3 being married not once but twice to white women. There was no need to go there. But he don't like your ass. That might have had something to do with it. I'm not condoning him doing that. I'm not condoning him bringing that up. If he, if, if rg if RC rather And I had spoke about it in depth, I would have told him, don't go there. Don't go there. No need for all of that, okay? But I want to emphasize something here that's very, very important. RG3 he never attacked your wife. He never attacked your family. He was attacking you, and you know it. Now, that don't make it correct, the mentioning of your wife. I'll concede that he didn't utter a negative syllable about your wife. He never mentioned your children. So when you say attacking your wife and attacking your family, your children, how did he do that? Ryan Clark did not do that. He talked about you and your behavior. He talked about how you lean towards highlighting her ethnicity. I don't know whether it's true or not. I pay no attention to that stuff. But I know what he said. And what he was saying was that. And he was saying she was much more than the color of her skin. He didn't in no way denigrate your wife and he never mentioned your children. Not with what I saw. If anybody out there has an additional clip where you can talk, point to RC attacking or denigrating the wife of Robert Griffin III or his children, show it to me. I didn't see that. RG3 I didn't see that. And why am I bringing that up? Because this is where it comes home. Meaning to espn, where you worked for years when you sat up there and you said, it's a bad look. Espn. I guess it's within your right to hit back at RC since you felt hit at yourself. But as somebody who works for espn, come on, bro. You know that was some slick shit you was doing, right? Because when you said it's a bad look for espn, you know that we work at a place where ESPN is going to be like, what's he talking about? What's a bad look for espn? You didn't have to go there. That's between you and Ryan. Ryan said that on the Pivot. Ryan shows up on Get Up. Ryan shows up on First Take. Ryan shows up on NFL Live. Ryan contributes to Monday Night Football. He never mentioned you on any of those places. Why on his podcast, on a spot that he owns and operates, would you ignore that to bring up ESPN because you were trying to get him in trouble with espn. You look into ESPN for help to try and reprimand him when you should have handled that your own damn self. And I'm talking to you out of respect. I don't hate you, bro. I don't have no animosity towards you. I said for public consumption, if it was up to me. You still be at espn. I. I thought you did a damn good job for various shows. Maybe not Monday Night Football, because that's a team. And if y' all had vitriol, which is evidently true with one another, that's not a pairing that works. I get that part. But there's a multitude of other outlets that you contributed to on espn, and I would have been happy to still see you there. Them letting you go downsizing and all of that stuff. That's above my pay grade. I got nothing to do with that. And I'm not here to question my bosses any more than y' all question them when they let me Go in 2009. That's the way it goes sometimes, particularly when you downsizing, monitoring your budget, your expenditures, and you're making decision as to what's in the best interest of what's not in the best interest of a network, that's business. This with you and Ryan is clearly personal. What you bring ESPN in it for, you trying to get the brother fired ain't gonna work. Not if I could help it. Ryan Clark is a hell of a football analyst. He represents our company very, very well. I think he is outstanding. And with all of that that I had to say about Ryan Clark as a analyst, it's nothing compared to what I think about him as a man. He is real. He's authentic. He may not always be right. I don't think he was right to bring up your wife at all in any capacity. But Ryan's a good brother who cares and does far more good than bad. I'm proud to call him a colleague. I'm proud to call him a friend and a brother. And if you gonna go at him, all I'm asking is be accurate. When did he attack your wife? When did he attack your family? And why are you talking about him and then bringing up. It's a bad look for espn. When he said that on the pivot. He didn't say that on espn. What you doing that for? If you got a problem with him as a man and you say, keep my families out your mouth, roll up on him and tell him, I promise you he won't be hard to find. I promise you that he will not be hard to find. Now, again, I want to emphasize you should have never brought up your wife. I would have preferred that he not do that. But he didn't speak against her. And he never mentioned your children that I saw. He mentioned you. He questioned your authenticity Your realness, your genuineness. He was talking about you, bro. You. He was using that as an example to highlight who you are, how you think, and what may shape and formulate your thinking. Now, ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to a different subject, and we don't have to go too deep there. I'm a dude who lives and let lives. I think Ryan Clark is too. I. I think RG3 is too. And you have a lot of people who don't have a problem with interracial relationships at all, and some who do. And maybe they need to be more advanced in their thinking. Live and let live. But it's not foreign, and it's certainly not foreign for somebody to be of the mindset that if you're going home to somebody of a different ethnicity, but whether you're white, black, Asian, Hispanic, or anything like that, people accuse one another all the time of being at least somewhat detached from their own community. Of who you're going home to is not from your community. That doesn't make them accurate. It doesn't make them right. But you know what else? It doesn't make them sometime offensive. If he had said something negative about your wife or your children. RG3, I feel you. He was talking about you, and he was talking about the person he sees on social media and a person he has directly worked with to bring ESPN into the equation to talk about. It was a bad look. Seemed to me like you were intentionally looking to the network to get him in trouble instead of dealing with it man to man. You and him. That's my biggest criticism. RG3, Ryan Clark. Don't talk about it. Don't. Don't even mention his family. Don't even go there. Don't even go there. You don't have to. You bet you bigger than that, which I know you are. And let's move on. It's that simple. People gonna have their beliefs, they're gonna have their stigmas, they're gonna have their interpretations. It's an opportunity for all of us to educate one another. But what really, really turned me off when Ryan Clark said, because you, who you've been married to, I was like, oh, don't like that. Just like when you said Andrew Reese was gonna suck a punch. Caitlyn Clark. Oh, I don't like that. That's not true. You don't know that. But that last part, when you said it was a bad look for espn. Ryan Clark was on the pivot. When I talk about things that I talk about, ESPN is my day job where I talk about first, take you yourself. RG3 said you don't like when people bring certain elements to sports television. Now, we disagreed on that. But the bottom line is you were making an argument about what should appear on sports television. Now, he did something on his podcast which wasn't on sports television, but he's Ryan Clark, and he's on his own podcast. And you brought up espn. Handle it yourself, bro. Don't look to ESPN to help. He violated nothing for espn. He violated nothing. And for those of y' all out there who's trying to sit up there and bring unwanted attention to Ryan Clark in a way that could ultimately compromise his career at espn, I. I'm letting y' all know in advance. You'll have to come through me. I wouldn't be saying this if he said it on espn, because they got a right to police what's on their airwaves. He had a personal opinion about RG3 that wasn't aired on ESPN that was aired on his own platform that he has every right to say about RG3, not about anybody else, meaning the family, his family, but him. And RG3 has every right to respond to him directly without bringing ESPN into it. That's all I'm saying. Ryan Clark need to be gone from espn. You. Y' all can miss me with that shit. Ryan Clark is outstanding. Outstanding. Not perfect, but outstanding nonetheless. Nonetheless. This personal between him and RG3, I hope they work it out. I hope they resolve it. We don't need all that animosity in the world. Because in their own way, albeit different ways, I happen to believe both are good brothers, and I'm proud to know both of them. But I ain't trying to hear anything about people being fired and all that nonsense. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that I will raise holy hell over something like this leading to somebody's loss of a job. I haven't heard anything like that. I can't imagine that would happen. I'm not trying to imply that I know something that I don't know, because I don't. I haven't even talked about ESPN about it. I'm just talking on behalf of two brothers that I know. I think they were both right, and I think they were both wrong in certain respects, which I just articulated. But miss me with all of this hoopla about Ryan Clark needing to lose his job, Y' all crossing the damn line on that. I'm not gonna sit idly by over something like this. Hell, no. Hell no. Coming up is Bill Belichick engaged to Jordan Hudson? I'll welcome the man who has been leading the way on reporting about the controversial couple. These controversial in some people's eyes, one only, Pablo Torre. He's up next right here on the Stephen A. Smith Show. And later, Megan Kelly calls Jake Tapper to the carpet for possibly withholding important information about Joe Biden in real time to benefit the sales of his book down the road. I need to get into that too too, so don't go away. It's the Stephen A. Smith show in the house. Be right back. All right, everybody, listen up. 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Ryan Clark
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Stephen A. Smith
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Stephen A. Smith
No purchase necessary VGW Group Void we're prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. Welcome back to Stephen A. Smith Show. Bill Belichick is back in the news again today thanks to his girlfriend, Jordan Hudson. Or is she his fiance? I don't know. After the New York Times reported earlier this week that the Miss Main Pageant contestant shared with someone that she was engaged to Belichick, TMZ published photos yesterday showing that Belichick's boat famously called eight rings in honor of his super bowl wins with the Patriots. And the Giants has a new paint job that now reads one plus eight rings, end quote. This has fueled the already rampant speculation about their relationship status, moving toward marriage as reports continue to come in that those in Belichick's inner circle have serious concerns. Joining me now to discuss this is the man who has been leading the charge on reporting on this romance. He was a longtime colleague of mine at ESPN and is now the host of the Peabody Award nominated Pablo Torre finds out podcast. Pablo, Tori is in the house. What's going on? Pablo? Long time no speak, man. How you doing, Vinay?
Ryan Clark
It's good to see you beyond, just from afar, when you're courtside at a game. It's been too long. And this is a strange circumstance under which we meet again.
Stephen A. Smith
It's absolutely strange. But it's really, really good to talk to you. It's been a while, man. Good to talk to you. Good to see you doing so well. Let's get right to it. What have you heard about whether or not Belichick and Jordan Hudson are engaged? What can you tell the world?
Ryan Clark
Yeah, so I've been deep in this rabbit hole for months now. And what I can tell you is that as recently as March, Bill Belichick was asked directly by a close friend, are you engaged to Jordan Hudson? Who at that point, by the way, was 23. Now she's 24. And Bill Belichick told that friend directly, No, I am not. Simultaneously, though, Stephen A. As we examine what the most highly paid public employee in the state of North Carolina is up to, his personal and professional lives being merged and blended, what we're also hearing, what I am also hearing at least, is that Jordan Hudson has in fact, been telling multiple people that they are engaged. And so this is one of those classic messes that are familiar to anybody who's been following this saga. And I've been, you know, reporting on this, talking to 11 different people who have directly dealt with both of them in this new phase of Bill Belichick's life, all of whom observe that the man is acting in a way that as you well know is so deeply opposite to the man that we thought we understood for about 20 years.
Stephen A. Smith
Why is this story so compelling, particularly to somebody like yourself? I mean, he is, I think it's 73, she's 24. That's a 49 year difference. A lot of people are uncomfortable with that stuff. A lot more people don't care. Why does Pablo Torre care? Talk to us about that.
Ryan Clark
It's a great question. My mom asks me this question as she's wondering why I go from being nominated for a Peabody, winning an Edward R. Murrow Award, to caring about this. And to me, this is a story about power, even a. It's a story about public figures. It's a story about what it means when a guy gets a job at North Carolina to lead young men and is hired under the pretenses of him being a lot like the guy that everybody at Carolina remembered from when he was the coach of the New England Patriots, the GM of the Patriots, a guy known for a couple of things, right? A lack of distraction, discipline, privacy, and truly an undefeated record against the media. And so this story is not merely like an age gap relationship story. And frankly, I don't care about the age gap so much, even though I think it is certainly interesting. I'm not here to, to yuck Bill Belichick's yums, right? He's not the first older man to be intrigued by a younger woman. That's not what's new here. What's new is the fact that we knew this guy in a very distinct way, such that he was one of the most defined characters we've ever seen before, with all of those ways that he defined himself very deliberately and proudly. And now the question is, why is he acting so differently? Who is advising him and what does it mean that he has handed power to a 24 year old that he met on a plane when she was 19?
Stephen A. Smith
I want to, I want you to explain how he's acting so differently. I don't see much of a difference. I remember seeing him at Boston Celtics games with a former girlfriend after he had gotten divorced. I remember seeing him as an individual that really didn't want to talk to the media at all. And when he did, it was certainly begrudgingly. In this particular instance, he was coming out with a book. I saw this interview where she was pretty assertive in that interview or whatever. And to me, that fell right in line with him, only from the standpoint of he's only talking to you because he's promoting the book. And oh, by the way having her be so invasive and so demanding during that interview that, that, that prevented him from having to be the bad guy for once, I really didn't see much of a difference. So when you say there's a difference in his behavior, articulate to our audience, what you're seeing in terms of his behavior that so diametrically opposed to anything that we've seen from him before.
Ryan Clark
Yeah, I would say, yeah, that cbs, the Sunday morning interview, that was just the glimpse, the first glimpse that the public had into the ways in which. Wait a minute. There's a new person who seems to be having influence over Bill Belichick. The reason he's acting so differently, as I have observed it, is because when he left the Patriots, when the NFL basically said, you are no longer wanted here as a coach, certainly as a gm, he had to pivot to being a public figure, which means that a guy who was protected, Stephen, and you know how this works, a guy who was protected by an inner circle in a football building, a professional football building, had to figure out, what. What do I do now? And so when he is not insulated by the structures, truly the structures and scheduling of the NFL, he, as we all saw, pivoted to media. He launched about half dozen different media projects in which it was. Now you're coming to Bill Belichick because he now, for the first time, wants to talk to the public, and he wants to be accepted and followed and subscribed to and appreciated as somebody who has many interesting things to say. And certainly when he was a coach, when we saw him give, you know, 1500 word paragraph long answers about long snappers. But this now was Bill Belichick saying, I'm here to be in public, and the person behind the scenes who was steering him, what I'm reporting is that the person behind the scenes who was in charge, the boss of his media ventures, the COO of Belichick Productions, is Jordan Hudson. And so when it comes to how is he behaving, it is the part about what his business was, and now it's the part not merely going to Carolina and being a college coach in which he has to appeal to young men, young people, and be online. In this era of name, image and likeness, Right. He has to be somehow fluent in the Internet for the first time, which is what he has turned to Jordan Hudson initially for. When I talked to former players for Bill Belichick at the Patriots, what they say is that the most shocking part is that this man, his private life was supposed to be private. You saw him courtside, you saw him on Nantucket, you saw his former longtime girlfriend of 15 years, Linda Holiday, bring him out to parties, bring him around to those things. But this kind of thing where he's being held up rather, I mean, he is holding her up by his feet, doing yoga on the beach, she's dressing as a mermaid. All of this stuff, you know, this is where his former players are like.
Stephen A. Smith
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Ryan Clark
Willingly posting that. That's not the bill that we knew.
Stephen A. Smith
Well, what about the argument that the bill that we knew had to alter his way of life and his way of thinking to some degree because the NFL didn't want a six time champion as a head coach, an eight time champion overall, when you take into account the two defensive coordinator positions that, I'm sorry, the two titles that he won as a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants, but the Atlanta Falcons job in particular, along with various other jobs that were available and mentioned he couldn't get those jobs because he was considered the past. You had young thoroughbreds, you had young bloods that were now running organizations that didn't want a football genius like himself as somebody that they would have to communicate with and ultimately answer to in some kind of way because he would be the head coach of a franchise. What about the notion that that forced and compelled him to make this shift because obviously he took a college job when we all know he would have preferred to be in the NFL.
Ryan Clark
Yeah, look, the biggest signal was in the contract he signed at UNC because June 1, which is right upon us, is a big date. Even a. Before Jordan Hudson became this public figure in the CBS interview and elsewhere, we knew that there was a clause in that contract that said the buyout that Bill Belichick had exercise on June 1st dropped from $10 million to $1 million. Right. 10 times less. That was his option if he wanted, in fact, if he got, in fact, the offer that never came from the NFL and is not forthcoming in any regard at this point. So it's always been about him wanting the NFL and having to settle for a different version of his life. And look, I don't have a lack of sympathy for anybody who does one thing at a genius level forever and then is said with no uncertain terms. He is told with no uncertain terms, you're not wanted here anymore, you're over the hill. Right. That is a human experience as well. I am not saying that that is not at play here. But the question of what you do next is where we're discovering Bill Belichick really, for the first time, Bill Belichick, not in the NFL context. I remember Bob Kraft, of course, the owner of the Patriots, once said to our colleague Seth Wickersham, he said Bill Belichick was an idiot savant, which is to say he is an absolute unimpeachable genius when it comes to the football. But everything else, right, he's not. And we're just discovering the ways in which that might be true, which we haven't had visibility into for 20 years.
Stephen A. Smith
Just about a couple more questions before I let you get on out of here, Pablo, and I really appreciate it because I know you got to run soon. Are we even, do we even care about this? If Jordan Hudson is not 24 years of age, if she's considered, I would.
Ryan Clark
I. Now listen. The tabloid storm, the hurricane, you're absolutely right. This is, this is catnip for everybody who wants to say this is a story that you probably can deduce already without even clicking on the story. Right. It is an age gap relationship. This is a gold digger. This is worse. This is somebody who is. I've seen her accused of being an onlyfans model and work a call girl. Right. My reporting does not indicate that that is the case at all. This is the story to me of an ambitious young woman who in some ways reminds me of Silicon Valley. And I'll explain why I say that, because I went to school, I went to college with these Silicon Valley people. And they are ambitious and they are young and they don't know what they don't know. But they go into industries and they blow them up. They blow them up and they leave a trail of wreckage behind them because they don't understand a really key thing, which is unintended consequences. So it's not that Jordan Hudson isn't in some way clever or ambitious or driven or determined or a real aspiring PR person. But see, even that you've worked in comms around comms people, PR people for as long as anybody at this point. And you know that when you are the story, you have failed in your job. And so the question becomes, is Bill Belichick keeping her around in this way because she is good at her job, or is it because, as his own family fears, according to sources around the Belichicks, he doesn't totally realize the damage being done to his legacy to Carolina, to that program, to this understanding of him that we were so close.
Stephen A. Smith
I don't know about that. Listen, first of all, let me say this in the interest of full disclosure. I remember When I covered the Philadelphia 76ers and Larry Brown was the head coach, and at the time he was 56 years of age and his wife was 26. I mean, and that wasn't the only person that I saw was with someone considerably younger than them. I don't understand how that could potentially equate to tarnishing the legacy of a Bill Belichick when his legacy is completely tied to football excellence. That's it. Outside of his foot of football excellence, nobody has pretty much given a damn about Bill Belichick and his life or his quality of life or how he lives his life. All they've ever cared about was what he did on the football field as a coach. So now that he's on a collegiate level instead of the pro level, if he goes to Carolina and win, or whether he wins or loses, that might be a determining factor as it pertains to how his legacy is looked upon. But I don't think his personal affairs with who he chooses to have as a girlfriend or a wife, dare we say, is going to impact his legacy. Is that what you're implying?
Ryan Clark
No, I'm saying that the football stuff on the field, his coaching record, unimpeachable, the decision making around it has been what's been called into question by everybody. And so when it comes to. Look, when I'm. God forbid we write the obit for Bill Belichick one day, the first paragraph absolutely needs to be around the football. The question is the Carolina experiment right now. And what I am told from Carolina is that his own inner circle, the higher ups, the administrators at the university, are all saying that Jordan Hudson cannot be involved with our program. She is not welcome in the building. They don't want her around because as there have been records now, public records requests that have shown that she has asked to be cc'd on every single email, she has been spotted in videos on the field. She is his representative, his first lady, in lots of ways. It's not merely that this is a younger woman, is that this is a woman who seeks power and has received it. Okay, and now the question is, how do you deal with that part?
Stephen A. Smith
Last question. Two parts. Number one, has she been officially banned by the university, or is it just that they don't want her around? And they've made that clear, but they're not demanding that she be banned and that she not be around. That's number one. And number two, do you think that Bill Belichick ever coaches a game at North Carolina? Do you think that's a job he walks away from before the season even. Season even begins because of all of this stuff involving her last word.
Ryan Clark
What I'm reporting. Yeah, no. Two great questions. What I'm reporting is that, number one, there has been in no uncertain terms the message from the top of the university to the football program that she cannot be associated with the program anymore. She shouldn't be in the building, she shouldn't be on the field. Now, they have pushed back on that by saying in a bit of a interesting PR statement sandwich that Jordan Hudson is not employed by the university. They confirmed that for the first time in response to my reporting and that she is only involved with Bill Belichick in the personal capacity as his PR representative, but that she is welcome in the building. Right. So I cannot speak to how North Carolina maybe adjusted what their messaging was since my report came out. They did not answer my request for comment, nor did they fulfill my public records request on that front. But the second question about whether he makes it a game, my suspicion right now is that the way he is handling his press tour indicates, in which he says to Michael Strahan, he says to Christine Williamson at the ACC meetings, he says it to Ryan Clark, our colleague, Right. He says, she is off to the side. This is only personal. This is not football. If he's going to agree to that in real terms and everybody at Carolina is going to get to frankly calm down because they can do their jobs in the way that they were hoping to as a normal program might, then I think he makes it, of course, to week one. Do I think he lasts for more than a year? Stephen A. For a team that, you know, didn't win seven games last year, I would set the line absolutely at one season, a one and done scenario.
Stephen A. Smith
So would I. Especially since he's got the 1 million buyout. Because I think an NFL team could potentially come calling, especially if he's successful at North Carolina. And that $1 million buyout, as opposed to being $10 million, I think is something that is doable, and I think that he'll return to the NFL. But Pablo Torre, appreciate you, man. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know you got to run, so get on out of here. And thank you again.
Ryan Clark
Anytime, Stephen. A. Anytime.
Stephen A. Smith
All right. One only Pablo Torre, he's doing a good job, obviously, covering this story. I mean, for me personally, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, to each his own. When I thought about his personal life, I'm like, damn, if it's consensual she's an adult. He's an adult. Ain't my cup of tea going with somebody that damn young. But that's his thing. That's his thing. Like I said, I've covered numerous executives, coaches, et cetera, that messed around with people considerably younger than them. I don't think that, you know, this is something that could potentially affect his legacy. What I will say, however, is this. It is interesting that she's his PR representative because that is him empowering her to some degree when she kept interfering, you know, with the questioning to Bill Belichick during that interview. It's one thing. I know that she's his girlfriend. It's one thing for people to look at her and say, hey, as his girlfriend, you know, look at how invasive she was. It's another thing entirely when you as PR rep. Because I've seen many PR reps conduct themselves that way during interviews. I've seen PR reps stop interviews from people when they didn't like the line of questioning. So that does change things a little bit. I didn't realize she was this PR representative. No matter which way you slice it, the man is older, he's divorced, he's got. Got three kids. He had a girlfriend for a while, and then they broke up with her, and now he's doing this. In the end, it is entirely possible that Bill Belichick may have the last laugh because he's happier than a pig in mud than most of us. Some would say that if indeed it ends up going to that point, I don't know. And to be quite honest with you, I don't give a damn. All I care about is what he's doing. And he ain't breaking any laws, all right? And he's not committing any crimes. And they're in a consensual relationship. That's their damn business. What I care about is how he's going to look coaching the Carolina Tar Heels as head coach on a collegiate level and whether or not he's going to ever get back into the NFL as a head coach because he's not somebody that deserved to be without a head coaching job. Think about the teams that would be better off in the National Football League if Bill Belichick was coaching them as opposed to some of the other coaches that they have to answer to. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Coming up, Jake Tapper himself of CNN is facing a lot of questions about his newly released book on the Biden administration, including from Megan Kelly. Are the questions fair? Lord, you'll see what I'm talking about. Plus, Marco Rubio butts heads with Democrats over Trump's favorite foreign policy, and I've got some thoughts on that as well. All of that coming up next right here on the Stephen A. Smith Show. Don't go away.
Ryan Clark
You see the world differently where others see empty lots. You see blueprints where others sit in lecture halls. Future leaders choose Ferris State University to build something real. Ready to dig in and learn through action. Ferris State gives you the tools, the team team and training to unleash your potential with paths to high demand careers and in state tuition for non residents. At Ferris State, students don't just study, they build. They lead, they succeed. Visit ferris. Edu Ferris State University we build champions. Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and safeway now through June 17th. Shop in store or online for your favorite personal care Items and save $5 when you spend 15 or more. Stock up on items like Dove Body Wash, Degree Motion Sense Deodorant, Tresemme Hairspray, Dove Shampoo, Dove Bar Soap, Dove Men's Body and face Wash and Dollar Shave Club blades and save $5 when you spend $15 or more. Hurry in before these deals are gone. Offer ends June 17th. Promotions may vary. Restrictions apply. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.
Stephen A. Smith
Welcome back to Stephen A. Smith Show. After a long buildup of promotion and leaked excerpts, a new book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson is shedding new light on the cognitive decline of former President Joe Biden. The book, entitled Original Sin, depicts alleged attempts by the president's family and close aides to shield his mental lapses from the public. This may be one of the most highly anticipated political book releases in some time, but it has many, including the Daily Show's Jon Stewart and the women of the View questioning If one of CNN's lead anchors was withholding information critical to the public for the benefit of selling copies. Another one of those people was Megyn Kelly. Please take a look at this over.
Ryan Clark
Here in my ecosphere we were covering all of these. It wasn't just falling down, it was getting lost. It was some of the stuff you report in your book. We knew and we were reporting on like the multi jump cuts in the videos of him where it was obvious he couldn't get through a one minute take. It was clear to us that he was using teleprompter and there was some reporting on that at the time, all of which the White House was denying. Now with the current White House, I have Some connections with the Joe Biden White House. I had none. But you did. There was an attempted cover up. It could only ever work if you allowed it, if the press allowed it. Some of us tried not to and some of us were complicit. The Biden White House did not like me. Okay.
Stephen A. Smith
This is.
Ryan Clark
I do not have great connections with the Biden White House. Well, clearly you have a lot of sources. You say you Talked to over 200 sources for this book. This was after the election. Could have called and worked. I know. That's the point, is that they were not being honest. That's the point. That was the Wall Street Journal.
Stephen A. Smith
Get it?
Ryan Clark
In June of 2024. And Jake Tapper and CNN couldn't find sources for this story. Then before he dropped out, Annie Lynske and Siobhan Hughes did an amazing job in their reporting. And they should be heralded. And I heralded them. I had them on my show right after the debate to talk about their great reporting.
Stephen A. Smith
But Annie Lynch.
Ryan Clark
But you did not put them on when they published that story, which was before the debate. Correct. I don't know what the booking situation was, but it wasn't because I didn't want them. I'm sure I said that day, let's. I'm sure I said that day, let's book that.
Stephen A. Smith
Did they? Yeah.
Ryan Clark
You put on a Democrat and, and you allowed the Democrat to rip on the report as a Rupert Murdoch sponsored hit piece.
Stephen A. Smith
No, no, no.
Ryan Clark
It's just.
Stephen A. Smith
Megan, that's. That's gonna do.
Ryan Clark
If we're gonna. If we're gonna do this, let's just stick to the facts here, okay? When there is a damaging report. That's what I've been doing all along. I'm talking about what you just said. The biggest story of the century when it comes to presidential politics. And one of us did.
Stephen A. Smith
Ouch. Let me say this, ladies and gentlemen, just as an aside. I've been a guest on Megyn Kelly's show at least a couple of times. I'll probably be back on in a week or so. You don't say to Megyn Kelly, let's stick to the facts. I've seen on Real Time with Bill Maher. I saw her there. I've been watching her for years. I respect the hell out of that woman. She does not play. She does not pull punches. She gives you facts. She lives on them. And on top of it all, when there are personal relationships involved, as was the case with Pete Hegseth en route to him becoming our secretary of defense. She was very transparent about her relationship with him. She does not play. She is not a joke. She is legit. I respect the hell out of that woman. I really do. And to say, let's stick to the facts. I would like to say Jake Tapper was in trouble then, but it was actually before then, but certainly at that particular moment in time. He's supposed to be coming on this show soon. I hope I do half as good of a job as she did because she had it all. The fact remains that there were people who had come on CNN who had appeared on Jake Tapper show like Lara Trump did, and he summarily dismissed them, which he openly admits. He confessed to having a private conversation in the aftermath of learning the facts and essentially apologizing to Lara Trump at that particular moment in time. Does that make up for how dismissive he was towards her? I don't know. I would encourage everybody to go and watch that interview from start to finish. I would encourage everybody to look at what she was saying and to really, really get into the weeds of it all. I was. I'm going to throw myself out here now. I called out Joe Biden and the diminished mental acuity and a lack of ferv and the incapacitation that so many that people were alluding to. I called it out a year in advance. I got eviscerated. Eviscerated. And I'm not, quote, unquote, conservative. So I can relate to Megyn Kelly sitting before him and being pretty pissed off because the conservative media was right, the conservative media was right, and the liberal media wasn't just wrong. The challenges, was it intentional? Now, I'm not here to accuse Jake Tapper of that. I'll ask him when I speak to him. But there is no doubt that one of the issues that's really permeating that can't be avoided is that the Democratic Party was demanding that you flow with and you vibe with what they wanted you to. And if you did it, they were ready to have your ass canceled, which is why you had so many people lamenting cancel culture, which is why you have somebody like me, Vinnie, from the PBD podcast. Love you, bro. Love you. But this is why you have people like me saying, yo, we pretty ticked off, because those are not things we knew. And when you see the Democrats engaging in a level of duplicity that you don't like, you're offended by it. Now, somebody like him would say, well, we were there with Trump all along. Well, that sounds like a loyalty to Trump instead of a loyalty to America. Just because that's your dude and you were vibing with him don't mean you knew factually and definitively that there was truth being told about the Democrats that the rest of us were oblivious to. Megan Kelly came to find that out along with others. My man Sean Hannity says religiously, hey, liberal media is dead. This is what he was talking about. The Mark Levins, the Sean Hannity's, the Clay Travis's of the world and others, the Megyn Kelly's of the world. What can we say to them at this particular moment in time? If you are a Democrat who bought in to the Democratic Party willing to engage in cancel culture when it came to anybody who would dare verbalize a dissenting opinion to what they were putting out there, what can we say? CNN was clearly guilty of it. We all saw. We saw Joe Scarborough going on MSNBC with Morning Joe. We saw him on the national airwaves saying, raving about President Biden's health and acuity. We saw. But there was clearly evidence to the contrary. And when that evidence was revealed, people on the left engaged in condemnation towards those who did have the guts to tell what clearly has now become the truth. You can get into the timing of Jake Tapper and his book coming out and how the publicity of it all the is venturing around Biden's announcement that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer. You can lament that all day till the cows come home. You're trying to sell a book. You're trying to sell a book. You wrote the book. You put in the work. You got to write to promote the book. But the point is, CNN and other platforms, if indeed you engage in the kind of behavior that dissuaded, minimized, and dare I say, condemned those who would dare challenge the mental acuity and the health and the overall health of Joe Biden. What do you have to say for yourself now? It is a legitimate question. It is a legitimate question. I applaud Jake Tapper for showing up to Megyn Kelly's show. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but boy, did he rake, get raked through the coals by her with nothing but facts. Nothing but facts. And now if you're the Democratic Party, please understand that when I said Monday you're the political version of Lance Armstrong, please understand I'm not backing up from that statement one minute, one bit. I mean it. Lance Armstrong was lying through his damn teeth about taking performance enhancing drugs when he was accused of it. He didn't just Deny it. He tried to ruin the lives of those who were telling the truth about him. And now that we reflect on what transpired with Joe Biden and how complicit the Democratic Party appears to have been in all of that, what are we to say about them? It ain't about Trump. It's not about Kamala Harris. It's about that party. From woke culture to cancel culture. Vie with us or you gotta get bounced outta here. You got rid of your own. Andrew Cuomo is a problem until he leaves office. Then all of a sudden, practically all the cases go away. Al Franken and his behavior as a comedian is a problem, even though you had him lock, stock and barrel in a Senate seat for the Democrats in Minneapolis. And then all of a sudden, he's out. And now stuff don't matter that much anymore. Time and time and time again, the Democrats have eaten their own and spit them out. Hell, listening to Bernie Sanders speak, one would argue you're doing it to him. This is bad. This is very bad. And I think that as Jake Tapper goes around the circuit promoting his book and the more facts we learn from this book, I think irreparable harm is going to be done to the Democrats. I think the midterms are in jeopardy. I think the presidency in 2028 is in jeopardy. It's really bad, y' all. It's really bad. Moving on to my last subject. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat engaged in a heated exchange Tuesday as the nation's top diplomat defended the Trump administration's foreign policy while testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Van Hollen criticized Rubio on his handling of issues Ruby, ranging from the freezing of humanitarian assistance in Sudan during a genocide, deportations to El Salvador without due process, and revoking student visas. Rubio didn't back down. Take a look at this exchange. We didn't always agree, but I believe.
Ryan Clark
We shared some common values. A belief in defending democracy and human rights abroad and honoring the Constitution at home. That's why I voted to confirm you.
Stephen A. Smith
I believed you would stand up for those principles. You haven't. You've done the opposite.
Ryan Clark
And I have to tell you directly.
Stephen A. Smith
And personally that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State. I yield back. May I respond? You may. Sit. Well, first of all, your regret for voting for me confirms I'm doing a good job. First of all, I'm actually very proud of the work we've done with USAID. For example, I don't regret cutting $10 million for male circumcisions in Mozambique. I don't know how that makes us stronger and more prosperous as a nation. I don't regret psychosocial support services. I raised Sudan.
Ryan Clark
Mr. Secretary, can I respond, Senator?
Stephen A. Smith
Senator, I'd ask you to suspend. You had seven straight minutes. I chose to use my time that way, Mr. Chairman.
Ryan Clark
That's my right to use my time.
Stephen A. Smith
Please suspend. That way, Secretary Rubio. Well, I can go on. I mean, there's other things here. We spent $227,000 for Big Cat's YouTube channel from USAID. We spent $14 million for social cohesion in Mali, whatever the hell that means. So I can go on and on. I got the list here. And there's more. That didn't even bring the whole list. In the case of El Salvador. Absolutely, absolutely.
Ryan Clark
We deported gang members. Gang members, including the one you had a margarita with.
Stephen A. Smith
And that guy is a human trafficker. And that guy is a gangbanger.
Ryan Clark
And that. And the evidence is going to be clear in the days that. Mr. Chairman, who you went to do.
Stephen A. Smith
I'm pleased Terry Rubio has the floor.
Ryan Clark
Chairman, he can't make unsubstantiated senator like that.
Stephen A. Smith
Secretary Rubio has the floor.
Ryan Clark
You, Secretary, should take that testimony.
Stephen A. Smith
The federal senator, United States, because he.
Ryan Clark
Hasn'T done it under oath.
Stephen A. Smith
Good Lord. Let me say this. Perhaps we'll reflect on some of the decisions that the Trump administration has made, made, and will continue to make regarding El Salvador, regarding Sudan and other nations, regarding foreign relations, and we may find that we are appalled by some of those decisions. With respect, however, to Chris Van Hollen, Senator Chris Van Hollen. Their administration has the right to make it. You lost. Their party won. And we will see through the prism of history what decisions were right and what decisions was wrong based on an administration. I am not getting into specifics about what Senator Chris Van Hollen was lamenting, nor am I going to favor Marco Rubio's response, even though I loved how he started off by saying, the fact that you object shows that I'm doing a good job. Because he's letting them know I don't agree with your ass. And I got that part. But we have to understand that Marco Rubio, officially one of the most powerful people in America, okay? Overseeing not just our country, not just in terms of Secretary of State, but national security. This man is a incredibly influential individual. Are we going to sit here and question the qualifications of Marco Rubio, who has been a senator for years, who is a former presidential candidate who got reelected in the state of Florida. We know who Marco Rubio is. He's not unqualified. He's not incoherent. He's not inarticulate.
Ryan Clark
He's.
Stephen A. Smith
He's not devoid of intelligence. He certainly isn't absent or devoid or oblivious to an understanding of policies that affect the United States of America. Last time I checked, Senator Chris Van Hollen. He's not there to agree with you or to be agreeable to you. Their administration, what the Democrats lost because you were focused on things not like this. You were focused on other stuff in an effort to win an election, and as a result, it cost you. Didn't we have an elected official go over to El Salvador to be with Abrego Garcia? Forgive me if I don't have his full name in front of me. Where were you when Biden was in office? Were you willing to go then? All I'm saying is this is Senator Marco Rubio, who is now the Secretary of Defense and is in charge of our national security or national intelligence. He's a very influential individual, very experienced, knows what goes on, knows the inner workings of Capitol Hill. He just may not agree with you. And you saying that you wouldn't have voted for him. So what? I don't like the fact that the Ukraine, Russia war has not been resolved. I don't like the fact that we see pro Palestinian supporters in the streets of America and beyond in an uproar off of the things that we're being told is happening over in Gaza and beyond. And that hasn't been resolved by the Trump administration, who swore, Mr. Trump himself, who swore up and down, President Trump himself, who swore up and down, we're going to resolve this in one day, even though we all knew that wasn't true. And perhaps whether it's US Aid, whether it's foreign affairs, what, no matter what, perhaps we would look at them and find down the line they were more wrong than right. But I love how we act. Like when we lose an election, you got the right to try to dictate what the winning party and a winning administration elects to do. That's why they're in office and you are not. So I just think we need to think about those things along those lines and understand what's going on here. I think it's important. I know this much. We want to question the intent of Marco Rubio. He works for President Trump as a subordinate. You might have suggestions and you might have things that you want to do. And then we say you might do things differently. But damn it, when you're subordinate, you're subordinate for a reason. He's the boss. President Trump is the boss. Marco Rubio has to flow with what he wants. When Marco Rubio gets into the presidency, if that ever happens, he might do things differently, but as long as he has to answer to that man, he's going to have to capitulate, at least to some degree to what the man wants. I watch all going off about Trump going at the president of Ukraine when they were in the off in the Oval Office. What's Marco Rubio supposed to do? Stand up and go off about to the president right in front of the cameras? Y' all are reaching. When you're the subordinate, you can make suggestions, but ultimately you have to capitulate to the person in charge. Period. Y' all know that. Which makes what was going on yesterday or the other day with Van Hollen grandstanding and getting back to Jake Tapper, here's what I will say, based purely on a Megyn Kelly interview, not knowing anything else at this particular moment in time because I haven't read the book. Obviously if all of these assertions are true, it's going to be real interesting to watch the fallout directly involving Jake Tapper, because other people have been let go for what some would surmise is less. Feel me? I'm just saying it's gonna be real interesting to watch what happens. That's it for this edition of the Stephen A. Smith Show. I gotta get on out of here, but I'll holla at y' all in the next couple of days. Until then, peace and love. Everybody be safe. God bless.
Ryan Clark
You see the world differently. Where others see empty lots, you see blueprints. Where others sit in lecture halls. Future leaders choose Ferris State University to build something real. Ready to dig in and learn through action. Ferris State gives you the tools, the team and training to unleash your potential with pathways to high demand careers and in state tuition for non residents. At Ferris State, students don't just study, they build.
Stephen A. Smith
They lead.
Ryan Clark
They succeed. Visit Ferris. Edu Ferris State University we build champions.
Stephen A. Smith
At&T has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed like getting through self checkout by yourself. Not guaranteed in a world where Nothing is guaranteed. AT&T is bringing something new to the table. AT&T is introducing a guarantee with connectivity you depend on, deals you want and service you deserve or they make it right. Learn more@att.com guarantee@t connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply.
Ryan Clark
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Stephen A. Smith
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Podcast Summary: The Stephen A. Smith Show – Full Show: Did Ryan Clark and RG III Battle Cross the Line? Megyn Kelly Grills Tapper about Coverup!
Release Date: May 21, 2025
Host: Stephen A. Smith
Produced by: Stephen A. Smith and iHeartPodcasts
Timestamp: [00:00 – 05:35]
Stephen A. Smith opens the episode by expressing gratitude towards his growing audience, mentioning the impressive milestones of over 1.22 million YouTube subscribers and millions of iHeartRadio downloads. He briefly promotes his New York Times best-selling book, Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes, and his production company, Straight Shooter Media. Smith sets the stage for a content-rich episode, hinting at various high-profile discussions to follow.
Notable Quote:
"I really, really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. On behalf of myself and my team, I thank you for it."
— Stephen A. Smith [00:26]
Timestamp: [05:35 – 06:29]
Smith critiques the Minnesota Timberwolves' performance in their Game 1 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, highlighting the team's turnovers and the Thunder's dominance, especially in the second half. He adjusts his initial prediction from a seven-game series favoring OKC to a five-game sweep, citing the Thunder's recent momentum and Minnesota's off-court challenges.
Notable Quote:
"I'm just saying if you think you'd be lucky if this series ended. It didn't end rather in five, because that's the level of dominance we saw from OKC."
— Stephen A. Smith [05:50]
Timestamp: [06:29 – 30:32]
The main segment revolves around the escalating tension between Robert Griffin III (RG3) and Ryan Clark, two prominent sports media figures. The conflict originated when RG3 suggested that Angel Reese harbors animosity towards Caitlin Clark, a statement that Clark vehemently opposes.
Smith critiques RG3's comments, arguing that labeling Angel Reese's actions as a "sucker punch" toward Caitlin Clark is exaggerated and harmful. He defends Reese's actions in previous similar incidents and condemns personal attacks within sports media.
Notable Quote:
"There should be no space in sports media for personal attacks. I've said it before, but certainly personal attacks against wife and children have always been off limits."
— Stephen A. Smith [25:45]
Ryan Clark reacts strongly against RG3, accusing him of making personal attacks that cross professional boundaries. He defends his and RG3's integrity, emphasizing that personal lives should remain out of public sports discourse.
Notable Quote:
"Ryan Clark personally attacking me and my family because he disagreed with my sports opinion is a bad look for ESPN. It's cowardly, it's spineless, and it's weak."
— Stephen A. Smith [25:55]
Smith attempts to mediate the feud, expressing respect for both parties but emphasizing that personal attacks should be avoided. He questions the necessity of bringing ESPN into their personal disagreements and calls for professionalism.
Notable Quote:
"Ryan Clark need to be gone from ESPN. You. Y' all can miss me with that shit."
— Stephen A. Smith [29:10]
Timestamp: [30:32 – 47:49]
Smith transitions to a high-profile personal story involving NFL legend Bill Belichick and his rumored engagement to Jordan Hudson, a Miss Main Pageant contestant.
Smith hosts Pablo Torre, a respected journalist and former ESPN colleague, to discuss the rumors surrounding Belichick's relationship status.
Notable Quote (Pablo Torre):
"This is a story about power, even a. It's a story about public figures... And what it means that a guy gets a job at North Carolina to lead young men and is hired under the pretenses of him being a lot like the guy that everybody at Carolina remembered from when he was the coach of the New England Patriots."
— Pablo Torre [33:30]
Torre delves into the behavioral changes observed in Belichick, attributing them to his transition from the private sphere of the NFL to a more public role in collegiate sports. He speculates on the influence Jordan Hudson may have over Belichick and the potential impact on his legacy.
Notable Quote (Pablo Torre):
"This is the Carolina experiment right now. And it might last for one season, a one and done scenario."
— Pablo Torre [47:00]
Smith shares his observations, comparing Belichick's situation to past instances of older men in relationships with younger women in sports. He remains skeptical about the rumors affecting Belichick's legacy, emphasizing that personal relationships should remain separate from professional achievements.
Notable Quote:
"Any age-gap relationship is their thing. If it's consensual, she's an adult. That's their damn business."
— Stephen A. Smith [47:30]
Timestamp: [47:49 – 73:34]
Smith shifts focus to Jake Tapper's new book, Original Sin, which alleges that President Joe Biden's cognitive decline was concealed by his family and aides to boost book sales. The book has sparked debates about media responsibility and political bias.
Smith criticizes CNN and Jake Tapper for allegedly prioritizing political agendas over factual reporting. He references interactions with colleagues like Megyn Kelly, praising her for sticking to facts and maintaining journalistic integrity.
Notable Quote:
"He dumped on CNN because he couldn't get fair treatment when you go around spreading lies about people, especially your own people."
— Stephen A. Smith [52:23]
He accuses the Democratic media of engaging in "cancel culture" and suppressing dissenting opinions, drawing parallels with other political controversies. Smith emphasizes the importance of objective reporting and warns against partisan biases.
Notable Quote:
"If you are a Democrat who bought in to the Democratic Party willing to engage in cancel culture when it came to anybody who would dare verbalize a dissenting opinion... what can we say?"
— Stephen A. Smith [54:09]
Smith speculates on the potential fallout from Tapper's book, suggesting it could harm the Democratic Party's prospects in upcoming elections. He underscores the need for accountability and transparency within political reporting.
Notable Quote:
"As Jake Tapper goes around the circuit promoting his book and the more facts we learn from this book, I think irreparable harm is going to be done to the Democrats."
— Stephen A. Smith [65:10]
Timestamp: [73:34 – 74:36]
Smith highlights a contentious exchange between Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Chris Van Hollen during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. The debate centered around the Trump administration's foreign policies, with Rubio defending past actions and Van Hollen criticizing them.
Notable Quote:
"You haven't. You've done the opposite."
— Senator Chris Van Hollen [65:03]
He analyzes the interaction, praising Rubio's assertiveness while defending his own perspective on effective foreign policy. Smith underscores the importance of strong leadership in national security roles.
Notable Quote:
"He did the opposite. And personally that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State."
— Stephen A. Smith [65:09]
Timestamp: [74:36 – End]
Smith wraps up the episode by reiterating key points from the discussions, emphasizing the importance of integrity in both sports and political arenas. He teases upcoming topics, including Jake Tapper's confrontation with Megyn Kelly and Marco Rubio's defense against Democratic criticisms, ensuring listeners stay tuned for more insights.
Notable Quote:
"Don't go away. It's the Stephen A. Smith show in the house."
— Stephen A. Smith [74:33]
Sports Media Ethics: The feud between RG3 and Ryan Clark underscores the importance of maintaining professionalism and avoiding personal attacks within sports journalism.
Public Figures' Personal Lives: The rumored engagement of Bill Belichick to Jordan Hudson raises questions about the impact of personal relationships on professional legacies.
Media Bias and Accountability: Jake Tapper's book and its implications highlight ongoing debates about media bias, transparency, and the responsibility of journalists in political reporting.
Political Discourse: The exchange between Marco Rubio and Senator Chris Van Hollen reflects the broader tensions and partisan divides within U.S. foreign policy debates.
Stephen A. Smith on Listener Support:
"I really, really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart." — [00:26]
Smith on Sports Fiasco:
"I'm just saying if you think you'd be lucky if this series ended. It didn't end rather in five..." — [05:50]
Smith on Personal Attacks in Sports Media:
"There should be no space in sports media for personal attacks." — [25:45]
Smith on Belichick’s Relationship:
"Any age-gap relationship is their thing. If it's consensual, she's an adult. That's their damn business." — [47:30]
Smith on Media Bias:
"If you are a Democrat who bought in to the Democratic Party willing to engage in cancel culture..." — [54:09]
Smith on Future Political Fallout:
"As Jake Tapper goes around the circuit promoting his book... irreparable harm is going to be done to the Democrats." — [65:10]
This episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show delves deep into the intersection of sports, media, and politics, offering Smith's unfiltered opinions and critical analysis of current events. From high-stakes sports rivalries to the ethical dilemmas within media reporting and the personal lives of public figures, Smith provides a comprehensive overview that engages listeners and encourages thoughtful discourse.
Note: All timestamps correspond to the provided transcript and serve as references for the quoted sections.