ESPN set the sporting world on fire when they laid off 20 on-air personalities. Direct victims of this decision were analysts like Max Kellerman, former Chicago Bulls star Jalen Rose, Jeff Van Gundy, and Keyshawn Jackson. These names have been synonymous with the network for a long time and have produced some of the finest commentaries. That wasn’t enough to save them from the flurry of layoffs. Seeing their favorites depart, many fans couldn’t make sense of the situation and showed outrage at the network.

Network stalwart Stephen A. Smith finally goes into the details of the whole controversy.

Stephen A. Smith opens up the axing of his former colleagues

Breaking his silence on the layoffs, Smith listed out pertinent reasons. He opened his monologue by stating that he normally doesn’t talk about issues pertaining to ESPN and First Take on his personal channel. However, the situation demands it because of the controversies that have surrounded the whole matter.

He looked perturbed about Dan La Batard’s comments, calling the day of layoffs, the “worst day in ESPN’s history” during his self-titled show on the fifth of July. La Batard left in 2021, fearing that such a day will come.

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However, Stephen A. Smith didn’t like this notion of only looking at it on emotional terms. He did acknowledge that “it was a bad day” and acknowledged “you don’t take joy in folks losing their jobs.”

However, the analyst then went on to explain that this is not a typical political decision by the company but rather an economic decision. He goes on, “As sad as I’m, as wishful I am that every single of those folks land on their feet and ultimately recapture a prosperous career that they had on ESPN. I’d like to remind everybody they are casualties of a layoff because ESPN lost $5.5 billion, the parks, and the theaters.”

Read more: 1 Month After Slamming Scottie Pippen, Stephen A. Smith Goes Off on Larsa for Absurd “Traumatized” Claim: “Why Would Michael Jordan Want…”

Smith calls for a logical approach rather than an emotional one

Going deep into the issue,  New York Knicks faithful express “It’s not the situation in Florida with DeSantis and a Don’t Say Gay Bill policy or what was labeled that. That ain’t the reasons, contrary to what y’all wanna believe. Y’all talking emotions, I have facts. That is not true. Parks, movie theatres, and sporting events disappearing; that is a lot of money to make up for. That’s what happened”.

Smith’s comments come in the wake of revenue losses for Disney, which owns ESPN. Linear networks like ESPN have seen a 7% drop in their revenue owing to the higher cost of producing games and the downfall of cable while digital platform ESPN+ saw a spike. Disney CEO Bob Iger wanted to save $5.5 billion through layoffs so that he could recover costs.

Smith didn’t lose his job because he continues to top the ratings chart for ESPN through First Take and he has close links with the production team. 

Do you agree with his approach when describing why the layoffs happened?

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