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One of the biggest stars at ESPN is upset that the network moved on from Ryan Clark this week.
Stephen A. Smith responded to the news that Clark was laid off by ESPN during his podcast on Tuesday. It’s safe to say Smith is not happy with the decision.
“My brother, Ryan Clark, the person who I consider to be arguably the best NFL analyst in America, is no longer a member of ESPN. And I can’t even tell y’all how much that hurts,” Stephen A. Smith said. “He’s a man, so he’s going to handle it the way men do. And we understand that. But I’m going to miss him.
“I am not happy about this decision one bit. The bosses know I’m not happy about this decision. I’ve made that very, very clear.”
Clark was informed he was being laid off as he was appearing on NFL Live on Monday.
Bart Scott, Cam Newton, Karl Ravech and others were laid off by ESPN on Tuesday, but Smith is upset in particular with Clark being let go.
“The only thing that I can definitively say to you is that there’s nobody that’s going to be let go that was more of a friend and a brother to me than Ryan Clark,” Smith said.
The star of First Take added that Clark is being treated unfairly on social media. He said that he has had to bite his tongue and fingers to keep from going after people who are celebrating Clark’s departure.
“They don’t know him at all. And it’s a real shame some of the things that people will try to say, some of the narratives they’ll try to create,” Smith said. “When they’re ill-informed and they get personal, there’s nothing worse than that.
“And Ryan Clark was somebody that was a man amongst boys when it came to stuff like that because contrary to popular belief, there’s nothing that he’d say on social media or on television that he wouldn’t tell you to your face, if that’s how he felt.”
Smith also said that Clark wasn’t just a coworker, he is a friend. Smith wishes there was something he could have done to prevent Clark from being laid off.
“He’s not somebody that I just loved working with, he’s somebody that I love, period. That I will always be here for, in every way, shape, form imaginable that I can,” Smith said. “I just wish that I could’ve been in enough of an influential or powerful position to prevent his exit from happening.”
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