On Monday night, Former First Take host Molly Qerim made a shocking departure form ESPN. Many were surprised, including her former colleagues Stephen A. Smith. Smith, who addressed Qerim leaving the show and network on Tuesday, according to Awful Announcing.
“The details, quite frankly, are none of y’all business,” he said. “But it’s not as if I know all the details. It was a contract negotiation that was going on. ESPN certainly did not want to lose her. But in the end, she made a decision to walk away from the show effective immediately.”
“To be blunt, it came as a shock,” Smith added. “I was not aware that this is something she was contemplating doing. But in the end, she made her decision, and we have to move on as a show. I don’t like it. I’m not happy about it because I appreciate her and what she has meant to me, what she has meant to the show, what she has meant to the network, what she has meant to the business.
“And I’m gonna miss her. It’s just that simple. But we all make decisions that we deem to be in our best interest for whatever reason. And that story is for her to tell.”
Smith then proclaimed that he’d be moving on from what transpired with Qerim, but continued discussing contract negotiations.
“This part is not about Molly. This part is about this industry, because I know there’s a lot of people who look at sports and you think you can do this every day,” Smith said. “News for you: you can’t wake up and be Mad Dog Russo.
“You can’t wake up and be Adam Schein. You can’t wake up and be Stephen A. It takes work. It’s not just about what you know. It’s about what you know about your audience and how you deliver a product to your audience that they’re receptive to and they want to embrace and they want to magnetize themselves to moving forward.”
“I know this subject is piggybacking off of what has happened with Molly’s abrupt resignation, per se,” he went on. “But it is important to point out that it doesn’t have to be about her.
“When you have negotiations and you’re talking with people and you’re going back and forth and you’re hearing things you may not want to hear or you’re feeling things you may not want to feel, even though you’re valued, even though people acknowledge those kind of things, we live in a world here we have to grow up.
“And again, I’m not talking about Molly here. But I’m watching, and I’ve been watching over the last several years, people in this business fall by the wayside. Because we forget that all of us ultimately answer to someone. We don’t get to define our own value. We don’t get to define our own worth. We don’t get to sit there and summarily say, ‘this is who I am and this is what I’m going to do, and guess what, I don’t give a damn what anybody says’ unless you have the leverage to do it. Because business is all about leverage.”
Smith’s rant raises some real questions surrounding Qerim’s abrupt departure from ESPN, and fans reacted to it on social media.
“Maybe FS1/Cowherd will fire jmac and replace him with Molly? At least there’d be less nonsensical Jets blather,” oen fan wrote on Twitter.
“At the end of the day, that dude has a superiority complex on ESPN’s complex and not everybody is willing to bow down to that clown. I say Bravo!! to Molly,” one fan added.
“He’s an evil and toxic man!!! His head has gotten so big that he thinks he’s god now !!! He rude , ignorant and a womanizer!!! He is the reason behind all of this . For Molly just to quit just like that and not even finish the season. ESPN is allowing this to happen!!!” one fan added.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.