Of all the thousands of “hot takes” Stephen A. Smith has given on ESPN and his Sirius Radio talk show, none was hotter and more significant than the one he delivered last week when he publicly (and sincerely IMO) apologized to NBA star Kryrie Irving for calling him “selfish” for not getting a Covid “vaccine.”
Smith also apologized to approximately a dozen other professional athletes who refused to get the Covid shots and, as I learned in watching his full 19:42 apology, included athletes (and citizens) who questioned other parts of the Covid response like mask and distancing requirements.
Smith said his apology was prompted by watching Anthony Fauci refusing to testify in front of a Senate Committee where Fauci “took the Fifth” 111 times.
For more than six years, millions of global citizens have waited in vain for one public figure with the stature of Smith to issue such an apology, an apology where Smith stated Irving (and other “vilified” athletes) were right and he and all other talking heads who attacked these athletes were “wrong.”
According to Smith, Irving was not “stubborn or selfish. He was brave” and was simply expressing his first amendment rights and his human rights to do what he thinks is best for his own health and body.
The fact this public apology - from one of the most influential “influencers” in the media world - came after the Fauci “hearing” provides another reason to thank Sen. Rand Paul for holding a hearing most of his Democratic colleagues stated should not even be held.
The combination of the Hearing (where several Republicans teed off on the once “untouchable” Fauci) and Smith’s mea culpa seems to suggest a Great Reassessment on the response to Covid might, belatedly, be occurring.
Late or not, Smith deserves tremendous credit for admitting he was wrong. IMO, it will now be interesting to note whether more public figures make similar apologies.
(I did note that Smith made his apology on his Sirius radio talk show and NOT on the network of his primary and much-higher profile employer, ESPN, which is owned by the Disney Corporation).
Smith pointed out that in refusing to get his Covid shot, Irving expressed solidarity with all the people who lost their jobs because they also wouldn’t get the shot or got the shots only because they would lose their jobs if they didn’t.
According to The Vigilant Fox, Irving forfeited $11 million in salary in the 2021-2022 season and might have lost $100 million from not getting a contract extension, which would be the greatest financial sacrifice ever made by a professional athlete based on a decision of principle. (Or, maybe not. See today’s Reader Comments).
Smith seemed to admit that his employer, Disney/ESPN, imposed vaccine mandates on its employees. As a “leader” of the ESPN team of employees, Smith said he felt it was his obligation to get a shot - to, in essence, lead by example.
Smith also disclosed that he actually didn’t want to get the shots, but did this anyway because he thought he should lead by example.
(Per Substack metrics, my “Page Views” have declined by at least 1,000 in recent months, which I assume means I’m doing something right.)
Shots didn’t prevent Smith’s own severe case of Covid …
In an eye-opening revelation, Smith said he almost died after he tested positive for Covid on Dec. 21, 2021. According to Smith, by New Year’s Eve of that year, his symptoms were very severe and he was hospitalized in ICU.
The eye-opening revelation is that Smith had already received two doses of Pfizer “vaccine” several months before he became very ill.
That is, the “vaccine” - that all citizens were originally told would prevent infections - clearly didn’t do this. (Later, of course, the vaccinated were told the shots were only designed to prevent “severe cases” or death.)
Weeks after his case, Smith revealed that doctors told him he would have died absent his Covid shots. However, the shots certainly didn’t prevent his severe case. (One gets the feeling Smith now questions his doctors’ assertion that he would have died absent his shots).
People were also told - by experts like Anthony Fauci and Kay Ivey, the governor of my state - that the huge spike of Covid “cases” in the fall and winter of 2021-2022 was occurring only among the “unvaccinated folks” - another brazen Covid and vaccine lie, as Smith, today, could/would no doubt attest.
In his comments, Smith noted that only four NHL athletes were unvaccinated. Also, almost every athlete in the NFL and NBA was fully vaccinated.
In researching Stephen A’s severe case, I found a story from Sports Illustrated that stated:
“Smith’s positive test comes amid a surge in cases in the United States. As of Tuesday morning, according to The New York Times, there are more than 140,000 daily cases of COVID-19 on average, up 20% in the 14-day change.
“Among other industries, the sports world has been severely impacted by the surge with multiple NBA games getting postponed and NFL games being delayed due to positive tests. The NHL will reportedly pause its season beginning Wednesday amid a surge in positive COVID-19 cases before returning to play next week.“
In other words, a surge in positive cases happened in the NHL (and all sports leagues) even though 99 percent of athletes were vaccinated. (Personally, I would also be very interested in learning how many athletes and citizens who became sick enough to be admitted to a hospital had also received that year’s flu “vaccine.”)
These Covid sports facts remain taboo to mention or criticize …
While Smith suggested viewers shouldn’t fully condemn experts like Anthony Fauci, I have no problem condemning Fauci as well as the “journalists” at news and sports organizations who never questioned any of the lockdown policies, rampant testing, mandatory masking and shots or all the fines that were issued to individuals who did not comply with various NPIs.
For example, every journalist at ESPN (and Disney’s news organization, ABC) should have (and must have) known that not a single professional or college athlete died from Covid between 2020-2026.
This would mean that among tens of thousands of active athletes, the Infection Fatality Rate for athletes aged 18 to 40 was 0.0000 percent.
In the first year of (official) Covid, athletes in Division I sports and professional sports had to submit to uncomfortable PCR swab tests three to four times every week.
The vast majority of these “confirmed” cases were asymptomatic, meaning the positive athlete was experiencing no symptoms. Still, this athlete and anyone this athlete talked to for more than 10 minutes had to quarantine for two weeks and couldn’t play their sport.
Games were played in front of no fans or stadiums that were 85 percent empty.
Athletes didn’t have to wear their masks at practice or a game but were fined five figures for not wearing their masks as they walked to the showers after a practice.
Coaches at outside games were fined similar amounts because they weren’t wearing their mandatory masks correctly.
For years (or even until today), no talking head at ESPN (or any major news organization) ever pointed out, and certainly never criticized, any of these ridiculous and unnecessary “safety measures.”
That is, while Stephen A. Smith did criticize his own actions and words, he’s yet to attack his bosses at Disney or any league commissioner, all of whom, like Anthony Fauci, were either concealing well-known Covid facts or were intoxicated with exerting their own power over others.
Everybody did their own risk-benefit assessment …
Regarding the response to Covid, it’s easy for braver, independent pundits to identify the dynamic that no doubt explains how such madness predominated.
Perceived experts like Anthony Fauci created a terrifying fear narrative, which was reinforced and never challenged by pundits like Stephen A. Smith nor any journalist in any corporate newsroom.
Leaders in every important organization in the world quickly performed their own risk-benefit analysis, concluding that they would not be harmed if they supported the official narrative and would suffer career harm if they publicly challenged the official narrative.
Brave and principled dissidents like Kyrie Irving and Novak Djokovic were punished for not going along with conventional wisdom, and endured public scoldings from influential commentators like Stephen A. Smith for being “selfish.”
To his credit, Smith admitted that he was not willing to risk his own salary (said to be the highest of any news/sports commentator in the world) to publicly criticize the Covid Powers That Be.
Unspoken but no doubt true is that Smith would have been dismissed from his high-paying job if he had done this (as were several female ESPN reporters - citing pregnancy concerns - who were fired or forced to resign after they refused to get the jabs).
One Covid lesson is that dissent from an authorized narrative can, perhaps, matter, but only if it occurs early enough and comes from a highly respected source with tens of millions of viewers (someone exactly like Stephen A. Smith).
With Covid, such a potentially influential critic never materialized … or when a few high-profile athletes dissented, they were attacked by the “pack journalism” mob committed to enforcing the “authorized” narrative.
For many Covid Contrarians, it’s interesting and probably a tell, that it took this many years for one prominent “talking head” to issue an apology as public and heartfelt as Mr. Smith’s.
And, again, it will be interesting to see if other prominent Talking Heads at the “world-wide leader in sports” now feel it’s “safe” to issue their own mea culpas.
In Conclusion …
The Narrative that alleged public servants and alleged experts like Anthony Fauci might not have been infallible after all is certainly starting to change, which is certainly a positive development.
Stephen A. Smith didn’t have to take time off from his vacation to issue this public apology, but he did anyway.
My guess is that Smith will NOT suffer any decrease in popularity for doing what, belatedly or not, he came to believe was the right and decent thing to do.
He admitted that he was wrong - and Kryie Irving (and millions of people just like Irving) were actually right, or if not right, should not have been vilified by the public.
As hot takes go, this public apology was indeed significant.
Given how few public figures have done the same thing and how sincere Mr. Smith seemed to be, speaking for myself, I accept and appreciate his apology.
(I greatly appreciate any readers who may be able to support this newsletter with a one-time writer gratuity or a monthly or annual paid subscription. )
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