Skip Bayless apparently wants nothing to do with Stephen A. Smith anymore.
After Bayless took personal shots at Shannon Sharpe’s playing career during FS1’s “Undisputed” in December 2022, which led to the Hall of Fame tight end leaving the network last year, Smith called Bayless to express how “wrong” Bayless was for what he did.
As Smith explained on Cris Carter’s “Fully Loaded” podcast, Bayless didn’t call back, appearing to cut Smith off.
“To address the elephant in the room … I understand why a lot of people can’t stand him,” Smith said of Bayless, per Awful Announcing. “I’ve told Skip to his face, ‘You don’t say what you said about Troy Aikman.’ You don’t call Chris Bosh ‘Spice Bosh.’ You don’t come at [Carter] like that …He’s arguing with you about a football point, so what you disagree? You don’t have to do that.
“And I thought he was wrong about Shannon. I thought what he did to Shannon was flagrantly wrong. And I called him, and he never reached back out. So, I stopped reaching out.”
Smith, 56, said he and Bayless, 72, spoke once over the last 12-18 months, an in-person meeting.
“We don’t speak much anymore,” Smith said. “He got upset over something he thought I said to JJ Redick, and he went on his podcast and attacked me for about 45 minutes. And then I flew to California and approached him face-to-face, and we resolved that issue.
“I’m never gonna speak against him per se, but our relationship admittedly hasn’t been the same since that moment. But it doesn’t mean I don’t love him; it doesn’t mean that I wish anything negative upon him because I don’t. He’s just going in a different direction, that’s what he chose to do and it’s cool.”
Smith and Bayless were the stars of ESPN’s “First Take” until Bayless left for FS1 in 2016 to start “Undisputed” with Sharpe.
After Sharpe left FS1 last year and joined “First Take,” Bayless continued the show with a rotating group of panelists, most prominently Keyshawn Johnson.
Bayless then left the network last month.
