The Nigeria Basketball Federation seems unimpressed by the apologies tendered Monday night by American sports television personality, Stephen A Smith.
Smith had apologised for his unsavoury comment following the win recorded by the Nigerian Basketball team, D’Tigers, against the United States.
D’Tigers won the pre-Olympic exhibition game at Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday [9.30PM Eastern Time; 2.30AM Nigerian Time] with the final score line reading 90-87.
Smith, who was displeased by the loss recorded by the US Basketball team, appeared on a TV show where he slammed the American team’s performance.
The TV personality stated that it was awkward that his country’s star-studded team lost the basketball game to the Nigerian side with players who are not known.
Reacting to his comment, the Nigerian Basketball Federation tweeted, “You can lament your loss without slandering the players who gave blood and sweet [sic] to grind out a win. Put some respect to their names.”
His comment also received a backlash from many Nigerians who took to social media to call him out, leading to his apology.
In a video tweeted via his verified Twitter handle @stephenasmith, Smith said, “I wanna start the show today the only way it can and should start, with an apology, my sincere apology, to be quite honest with you.
“An apology that’s from me, that’s from the heart, not from the network, not from anybody else, just me.
“Not something handed down to me to say on the airwaves, because I alone messed up.
“I can say that my intentions were good, but as a black man in America, I’ve heard a lot of people say hurtful things about the black community, and they claimed their intentions were good.
“I know it doesn’t work like that, and you know I don’t let people get away with that excuse when it’s targeted at black America.”
Continuing, he said, “What I spoke about the Nigerian basketball team hurt people.
“So, it doesn’t matter what my opinion was or my intentions were. What matters is that I messed up. And I intend to learn and listen to those people in those communities to better understand their perspective on their culture, on language, on marketability, you name it.
“I messed up and hurt people with my words. For that, I apologise.”
Reacting to the apology, the NBBF tweeted, “Thanks to all Nigerians (home and abroad) and all our friends who stood up to berate @stephenasmith after his unguarded remarks about our team .”
Smith is not new to controversies, though, and he seems to thrive on it, as once reported by Chicago Tribune in a 2014 article titled, ‘Despite controversy, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith gets even more work.’
The medium had reported, “Despite being suspended for his comments about domestic violence, you will be able to hear more from Stephen A. Smith, not less.
“It was announced this morning that ESPN will produce The Stephen A. Smith Show for SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sport Radio, channel 85. “
And Smith was reported to have expressed utmost excitement, “Words can’t express how excited I am to be going to SiriusXM,” said Smith in a statement. “I’ve waited a long time for this. All I’m going to say is Sept. 2 can’t arrive soon enough. So Buckle Up! Because I’m coming.”
Smith reported came under fire for his comments on ‘First Take’ in the wake of the NFL’s ruling on Ray Rice. He appeared to suggest that women could be responsible for provoking men to become violent.”
An arbitrator had overturned the National Football League’s indefinite suspension of Ray Rice, a former Baltimore Ravens running back, who knocked out his fiancée in an elevator altercation.
As is the case with the D’Tigers, Smith eventually issued an apology on his show in 2014, though ESPN took him off the air for a week then.
No comments:
Post a Comment