Hot on the heels of his Lane Johnson apology, Stephen A. Smith has now found himself publicly saying sorry to former NBA star Iman Shumpert and his ex-wife, Teyana Taylor.
It hasn’t been the best week for Stephen A. Smith. After his comments about Lane Johnson’s retirement related to mental health reasons, the ESPN man has found himself in hot water once more. Smith received a lot of backlash for his take on the former Eagles man, so it is surprising to see him having to apologise for something again so soon.
This time, it is former NBA champion Iman Shumpert and his ex-wife, Teyana Taylor who are at the receiving end of an apology. Smith recently claimed on one of his shows that Taylor received $25 million along with luxury homes and cars while Shumpert received just $2 million after they divorced. He’s had to walk this back in embarrassing fashion.
Stephen A. Smith admitted he failed to ‘meet the standards’ after sharing unverified and inaccurate information
Shumpert and Taylor officially divorced in 2024 after a decade together. The situation was far from easy as the former couple share two daughters and their split created quite a few headlines. As has now become normal, a lot of the information about their separation on social media was inaccurate.
It seems Smith and his team fell for one of those posts. After discussing the wrong figures in an episode of his ‘Culture Table’ show, Smith ended up having to issue an apology.
“In the interest of fairness, accuracy, and decency, I believe it’s important to address what happened in connection with an October episode of The Culture Table titled ‘Can Men Trust Women with Their Finances?'” Smith said.
“During that episode, I stated that Teyana Taylor walked away from her divorce with $25 million, $10 million in properties, luxury cars, and other assets, while Iman Shumpert, her ex husband, was left with approximately $2 million and nowhere to live.
“Those statements were inaccurate, and I want to sincerely apologize to both Iman Shumpert and Teyana Taylor. The quotes attributed to him, however, were not his statements at all, and the financial figures presented were inaccurate.
“I know this for a fact because I personally spoke to Teyana Taylor, who verified herself that the information circulating out there is patently false. Straight Shooter Media and I, as the CEO, have a responsibility to ensure that information presented is properly sourced. We didn’t meet that standard here. Plain and simple. I have personally apologized to both Iman and Teyana.”
Smith’s apology is comprehensive and seems heartfelt, but fans in the replies don’t seem to have a lot of sympathy for him. Credibility is very important in media and having to apologise twice in one week isn’t the greatest look for Stephen A.
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