Stephen A. Smith Mocks Skip Bayless For Losing His Job

Skip Bayless will be leaving Fox Sports’ “Undisputed” show later this summer.

After getting thoroughly thrashed in the TV rings by Stephen A. Smith, his former partner, for years – Bayless has apparently had enough.

Fox Sports, similarly, is tired of paying millions per year to come in second to Smith and ESPN by a pretty significant margin.

While Bayless still often makes headlines for his wild photos with his wife and his weird workout pictures, none of that has translated into a measurable TV audience for his show. Not in the same way Smith’s dynamic with Shannon Sharpe and Molly Qerim has.

This week, upon hearing about Bayless’ situation, Smith feigned sorrow and then proceeded to dance on Bayless’ grave.

“Where I am, where I’ve been, and especially where the hell I’m going with the stuff I’ve got coming down the pike in a matter of months… none of it’s possible if Skip Bayless doesn’t extend that helping hand and bring me on First Take,” Smith said.

“I’ll never forget that. I never have, I never will,” Smith continued. “You want to hold on to something that I have to say about Skip Bayless, hold on to that.”

So to recap: Bayless made it possible for Smith to be where he is today. But apparently, despite that, the two have no relationship.

“As the reports have said, they’ve had some ratings struggles. I’m not about to get into that,” Smith added.

“I’m not going to play that Game. Skip Bayless, and I have not spoken in a long time. He’s on that side of the fence, I’m on this side of the fences.

“But as I’ve stated on many occasions … I don’t root against my colleagues and contemporaries and certainly not my friends. … Being on First Take and wanting to be No. 1 doesn’t mean I wanted Skip Bayless to fail, doesn’t mean that I want to see him out of the Business.”

So they are friends, but they haven’t spoken. He didn’t want him to be out of the Business, but won’t reciprocate the favor Bayless once extended to him when he was on his way out of the industry.

That is what Smith was saying.

For anyone who has trouble reading between the lines, this was Smith openly mocking Bayless to his face while feigning sorrow. It’s safe to say that friendship isn’t going back to its old ways anytime soon.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.