Monica McNutt and Stepehn A were involved in a fiery exchange over Chennedy Carter’s hard foul on Caitlin Clark, which has sparked plenty of discussion.
Unexpectedly, a live altercation erupted between the ESPN personalities on First Take, with Smith defending the significant airtime he devoted to women’s sports.
While talking about Chennedy Carter’s hard foul on Indiana Fever player Caitlin Clark over the weekend, Smith seemed to want to give First Take some flowers for leading the conversation about women’s sports and the WNBA.
On Monday morning, Smith and the First Take crew debated Caitlin Clark’s situation in the WNBA, which led to Smith criticizing the WNBA veterans for roughing up Clark in her rookie season.
McNutt chided him, claiming it was unfair for casual fans to criticize WNBA players.
Smith retaliated to McNutt’s counterattack by stating, “Who talks about the WNBA, who talks about women, who talks about women’s sports more than First Take?”
McNutt immediately fired back, saying she felt Smith could have done more for the WNBA over the years, which left Smith in a state of shock on live television.
“Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform, you could have been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,” McNutt fired.
“Stephen A., I’m talking to you, I’m talking to you, don’t do that,” the former Georgetown basketball player told a visibly stunned Smith. “I’m talking to you about your power.”
The video went viral because of how strongly McNutt retaliated against Smith and how surprised he was.
Smith responded to McNutt’s remarks promptly.
Smith went all out, implying that he had made them famous by allowing McNutt and other WNBA pundits to appear on it.
“You ever heard of Monica McNutt?….. you have now because she’s on First Take a lot.”
“I could care less about being going at me. I just want you to be accurate,” Smith continued. “And it is highly offensive to me when somebody implies or flat-out states like Monica McNutt did this morning, which was factually incorrect.”
“I challenge anybody to find a show on sports television that discusses women’s issues, that discusses the WNBA or women’s sports, that highlights or profiles female analysts more than First Take,” he challenged.
It’s safe to say that McNutt’s claims that Stephen A.’s famous sports debate program, First Take, hasn’t historically focused on the WNBA did not make him happy.
