What Happened to Skip Bayless & Stephen A. Smith? Feud Explained

What Happened to Skip Bayless & Stephen A. Smith? Feud Explained

As a long-time follower of sports media personalities, I’ve always found the dynamic between Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith fascinating, much like watching a high-stakes game of chess unfold on television. Their latest feud has been quite intriguing, reminding me of the classic rivalry between Ali and Frazier or Brady and Manning.


A series of disputes between sports analysts Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith has caused some tension in their friendship. The discord started when Smith took issue with Bayless’s comments regarding Shannon Sharpe’s NFL career. In a recent episode of the Fully Loaded podcast, Smith shared that they seldom communicate nowadays. He mentioned that it had been more than a year and a half since their last conversation. So, what led to their estrangement? Here is the backstory.

Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith feud explained

The conflict between Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe is said to have originated during a disagreement on Undisputed’s Tom Brady debate segment in 2022. Bayless openly criticized Sharpe’s NFL career, drawing parallels with Brady, stating that “Brady is still playing at a high level at 45, while you had to retire at 35 – that’s the point.” Regrettably, this growing tension resulted in Sharpe leaving FS1’s main show. (Source: Huff Post)

After Bayless spoke disrespectfully about Sharpe’s career, it really got under my skin as a gamer. I recently had a chat on the Fully Loaded podcast where I shared that I reached out to Bayless, expressing my disagreement with his harsh words towards Sharpe. Unfortunately, he didn’t respond, so I chose to stop reaching out to him.

Furthermore, the tension between Bayless and Smith increased significantly when there were allegations that Smith had made a comment to JJ Redick which upset Bayless. This led to Bayless criticizing him for 45 minutes on his podcast, causing Smith to travel to California. Desiring to address the situation directly, Smith went to confront Bayless, and they immediately resolved their disagreement. Despite resolving their issues, their friendship is not as strong as it once was.

Even though they have a disagreement, Smith harbors no resentment towards him. In the same conversation, he expressed, “It doesn’t mean I don’t care for him; it doesn’t mean I hope for his misfortune because I don’t. But he’s taking a different path. That’s the choice he made, and that’s okay.

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2024-09-09 05:10