On his 63rd birthday. Michael Jordan was supposed to celebrate the pinnacle of his second act. Since pivoting to the tracks as the owner of 23Xi, he finally got a win. Tyler Reddick won the Daytona 500 in a single-lap nailbiter. But what was supposed to be a historic moment, hoisting the Harley J. Earl Trophy for the first time as an owner was marred. An eight-second clip from the 23Xi celebration went viral and quickly dampened the celebration of Reddick and his team. Since then, those who are close to MJ have defended him.

Stephen A. Smith has never been one to stand Jordan slander. Addressing the noise on his show Straight Shooter, SAS took a hardline stance in defense of the Bulls legend, calling the public’s rush to judgment “ridiculous.”

Referring to Jordan’s interaction with Beau Reddick, the six-year-old son of 23XI driver Tyler Reddick, Smith blasted what he termed as “algorithmic amplification” that turned a celebratory moment into a controversy.

“It’s a kid that Michael Jordan loves like it’s his own kid. It’s a kid that he’s known for years… If you see footage, he’s holding the kid in his arms, he’s walking around playing with them. Why would we jump to that conclusion? Particularly when it comes to somebody the likes of Michael Jordan.”

The controversy stems from footage showing Jordan standing behind young Beau during the chaotic, champagne-soaked celebration. Critics claimed that MJ inappropriately touched the child. However, several entities within the NASCAR community corrected the narrative.

They said that Beau was caught in the ice shower when his dad, Tyler powered the bucketful in the celebration. A more accurate way of describing the incident is that Jordan was helping Beau get rid of the ice that went inside his shirt.

Because of how the optics was twisted, Smith has got agreers that in these, facts take precedence.

Stephen A. Smith endorsed Michael Jordan’s and Tyler Redick’s silence stance

In a poignant statement, Tyler Redick called out the critics for ruining a highlight of his and his team’s career. “From my perspective, I’ve gotten to know Michael and his family very well over the years I’ve been here with 23XI, and I don’t see what other people see when it comes to this,” a part of his statement read.

The entire incident has been a lesson on narratives. As Smith, a media veteran, pointed out, “We also have to take into consideration camera angles and stuff like that, how things could be distorted… It was just an eight-second clip.”

He noted that Jordan is the type of person who would “summarily dismiss” the noise rather than dignify it with a response. “I saw the video. It’s a non-story in my opinion, based on what I saw. If it were a story, I would have touched it more fervently.”

Despite Smith’s passionate defense of his old friend, it was Tyler Redick’s definitive stance that put an end to this drama. After his statement, he declined to talk on this matter entirely, showing a clear decision to move on from this.