Add Terrell Owens to the list of athletes and media personalities who have beef with Stephen A. Smith.
Smith — one of ESPN's most popular media personalities and long-time host of the network's "First Take" program — has been engaged in a social media feud with the former NFL receiver for several days. The two began taking jabs at one another over the weekend but it has spilled over into the next week.
How serious has the dispute gotten? Smith actually addressed it with an entire segment on his podcast, "The Stephen A. Smith Show." And a notable athlete and media personality have tried to break up the tiff, but to no avail.
But why is Stephen A. Smith feuding with Terrell Owens? Here's how a comment that the wide receiver made in 2019 stirred up bad blood between him and the TV host.
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Stephen A. Smith vs. Terrell Owens
Believe it or not, Smith and Owens are feuding because of a resurfaced comment that the former NFL wide-out made on "First Take" back in 2019.
Terrell Owens makes comment about Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman in 2019
Owens appeared on that episode of ESPN's popular morning talk show to discuss Colin Kaepernick's situation as he attempted to showcase his skills to attempt an NFL comeback. Owens disagreed with Smith's take on the matter and seemed to indicate that Smith's cohost, Max Kellerman, empathized more with the former 49ers quarterback than Smith did.
"Max almost seems blacker than you, Stephen A.," Owens said.
Smith told Owens that he had "crossed the line" with that remark. As part of his clapback, he also claimed that Owens had asked to come on the show and was not invited to do so.
That clip had largely been out of the public consciousness until Saturday when Owens retweeted a post that shared the clip. He seemed to imply that Smith felt threatened by Kellerman, who exited as the cohost of "First Take" as part of ESPN's 2023 layoffs.
FACTS!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/L2YWXMbykh
— Terrell Owens (@terrellowens) September 16, 2023
Owens' tweet made it back to Smith, who naturally, responded to Owens from his personal account. He invited Owens to reveal the "trifling s—" that the 49-year-old tried to pull at ESPN, but declined to reveal exactly what that was.
"Now….as for this dude, that’s an entirely different story," Smith wrote. "You know how I feel about your sorry ass @terrellowens and you know why! You should thank your Heavenly Father I haven’t zeroed in on you with the trifling s— you tried to pull. Tell folks to ask ESPN what your desperate ass tried to pull. Keep on talking. Eventually, you’ll expose yourself!"
Smith then appeared to threaten to expose Owens himself for "all the things [he] tried to do behind the scenes — to BROTHERS — over the years."
Or…….maybe I’ll just dedicate the entire Stephen A. Smith Show/Podcast on YouTube this Monday to all the things you tried to do behind the scenes — to BROTHERS — over the years while claiming someone is more of a Brother than others. Let me thing about that over the next 24… https://t.co/MIROwzBdTU
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) September 16, 2023
Owens clapped back at Smith's threat. He said that he was "not worried" about Smith trying to expose him because he had nothing to hide.
He also accused Smith of being the driving force behind the firing of Kellerman.
Now Stephen A…Ask me if I’m scared?! I thank God every day or I at least try to but do what you do best. I’m not worried. You don’t have to make some bold attempt to 'expose me' because I have NOTHING to hide. You’re mad because of the advice of my attorney after we filed against ESPN because on air without my consent you shared our text conversation. I’m not sure that constitutes as desperate but enlighten us all.
So my boy, hone in on me. I’m good. I’m blessed and God got me! You’re still salty about that interview I did with you and Max a few years back and I said what I said and today I’m still #TeamMax. Got that man fired! That’s messed up.
You saw me in Colorado you should’ve told me about my sorry ass then.
Owens then questioned the "behind the scenes" information that Smith was claiming to have.
Behind what scenes???!
— Terrell Owens (@terrellowens) September 16, 2023
Again, Man I’m NOT WORRIED because I stand on my character and who I am. You better come with some FACTS and not this hearsay and anonymous sources because that’s not gonna fly. https://t.co/6ZSoos5nxz
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Kyrie Irving, Josina Anderson get involved in Stephen A. Smith vs. Terrell Owens feud
As the feud went on, many tried to intervene to slow it down. That included Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving, who called upon the duo to act like "grown mature men" and work things out.
"Can y’all call each other like grown mature men and clear the air without all of the extra social media back and forth?" Irving wrote. "Get what you need off your chest and move on."
Smith admitted that Irving was probably right, but he still subtweeted Owens in his response.
Respectfully bro, you don’t know the whole story. I have nothing to say to his sorry pathetic ass — but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong! You are right bro! I’m man enough to admit that. I will stand down.#Respect https://t.co/xTm0OuuB37
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) September 16, 2023
Meanwhile, CBS Sports' Josina Anderson chimed in and voiced her support of Owens' points.
"I’ll agree that it’s fine for SAS to want change," she wrote. "But Max lost a job & deserves due grace too, & as you and others also stated had many fans too."
.@terrellowens I’ll agree that it’s fine for SAS to want change; but Max lost a job & deserves due grace too, & as you and others also stated had many fans too.
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) September 16, 2023
Owens has yet to respond to Anderson's tweet, but he did take aim at Smith again. He called out the TV host for calling him "sorry and pathetic" and called his bluff regarding the talking head's reported exposé.
"Don’t stand down now!!!" Owens wrote. "I’ll be sorry and pathetic, be sure to keep that same energy when you see me next time. You see I’m not intimidated by you because you have a platform and a loud mouth to claim that that you’re going to allegedly expose me about something. It seems to me that you’re the one being exposed. Please EXPOSE ME! Let us know what you got. I, along with everyone else will be waiting.
"I don’t bother nobody. I’m just me. And if you don’t like me then that’s a personal problem."
And less than an hour later, Owens even tweeted that he was excited to hear how Smith would attempt to expose him.
"I can’t wait to hear what he’s going to expose me about," Owens said. "We’ll be waiting. Anything to get the people to tune into and increase the ratings on his show but I’m here for it."
Stephen A. Smith releases Terrell Owens podcast
Smith spoke at length about Owens on his podcast — The Stephen A. Smith Show — Monday, but he didn't bring any actual exposé material about Owens to it.
He did say that he felt "sad" for Owens, though.
"It is rare in my lifetime that I have seen a person make more enemies out of people who genuinely cared and tried to help him than this man," Smith said.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) September 19, 2023
Unsurprisingly, Owens didn't take kindly to Smith's podcast. And he expressed on X (formerly Twitter) once again that Smith had no reason or means by which to expose him.
Holding up papers talking about you got FILES of stuff on me! As long as no court houses and police departments don’t have any on me, I’m good. And even if they did ninja, so what!!! Miss me with that baloney!!!! Your alleged FILES of people that don’t like me because I stand and stood up for myself because of clowns like you that talk bad about us black athletes like Kyrie, Kaepernick, Durant, etc for the networks and their direction to get yourself a paycheck.
That appears to be the end of the feud for now, but it certainly wasn't resolved. As such, it will be worth monitoring if one tweets more about this saga that cropped up four years after their tense, on-air interaction.
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Do Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman have beef?
Smith recently spoke about his relationship with Kellerman in an appearance on "The Joe Budden Podcast." While he acknowledged that he was a fan of Kellerman the person, he also explained that he didn't like working with him at the end of their time hosting "First Take" together.
“I had mad respect for him from the standpoint of white dude, highly intelligent, Ivy League — educated from Columbia. Smart as a whip. Can talk his ass off,” Smith said of Kellerman.” Can talk about anything. I get all that. But you weren’t an athlete, and you weren’t a journalist. And the absence of the two components left people wondering, ‘Why should we listen to you?’"
With that said, Smith felt that the pairing wasn't working together. So, he and Kellerman broke up as a part of an ESPN reshuffle in 2021.
Still, Smith insists that while he wanted a change, that wasn't an indictment of Kellerman as a person, as he explained on X.
Same question, Same answer for damn-near two years now: Max & I weren’t working in the end. I wanted to win. So I didn’t want that duo. Does mean he’s isn’t smart, talented and that he’s not a good guy. I have nothing against him. I wish him well. Just needed a change. That’s all.
Nonetheless, the end of the duo's partnership was a tense one. And Smith detailed on "The Joe Budden Podcast" that he deserves the brunt of the blame for that.
“I would take full responsibility for that,” Smith said of his tension with Kellerman. “It was totally my fault and the reason it was my fault is because I didn’t like working with him.”
So, it certainly appears that there is a bit of beef between Smith and Kellerman. And that may be part of the reason that Owens stirring up his 2019 support for Smith's former cohost seemed to hit a nerve with the current "First Take" star.