Stephen A. Smith has cut ties with Papaya Gaming, the company behind the solitaire game the ESPN personality promoted as part of his ambassadorship to promote the upcoming World Solitaire Championship (WSC).
“Papaya and I have mutually agreed to end our partnership,” Smith, 58, told Front Office Sports on Friday.
It comes after ESPN reportedly recently ordered other on-air talents — Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky, Laura Rutledge and Kendrick Perkins — to sever ties with Papaya.
ESPN brass in Bristol, Conn., was not aware of the Papaya relationship with its talent and did not approve the marketing campaign, according to Front Office Sports.
Last month, Kimes publicly apologized for promoting a marketing campaign involving Smith, Papaya’s “#BeatStephen Challenge.”
“The truth is: I didn’t spend any time looking into the whole thing, and that’s 100% on me,” Kimes wrote on X. “Thought it was just typical marketing work, and I’m deeply embarrassed I didn’t vet it. A colossal f–k-up on my part.”
Smith was named the company’s official ambassador for the first-ever World Solitaire Championship, which will take place in February 2026.
The announcement came as Papaya was battling a federal lawsuit with mobile game rival Skillz, which accused Papaya of falsely marketing “games of skill” that were rigged with unbeatable bots, according to documents obtained by Front Office Sports.
Both companies offer solitaire games.
The lawsuit, filed last March, states that Papaya committed fraud through false advertising between 2019 and “at least November 2023,” using bots “masquerading as human players” in games where human players had money on the line — making it impossible for users to succeed.
Papaya suffered a setback when a federal judge threw out its counterclaims on Nov. 21, according to Front Office Sports.
Smith’s partnership with the app was inspired by the moment he was caught playing solitaire on his phone during Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Thunder and Pacers, which he was covering for ESPN.
Former ESPNer Michelle Beadle — who made it clear she doesn’t like Smith — publicly ripped the “First Take” host for his involvement with the app.
“ESPN pays him a gazillion dollars to get a lot of stuff wrong and yell,” Beadle, who left ESPN in 2019, said of Smith, who making $21 million on his deal with The Worldwide Leader. “He gets caught playing solitaire during the NBA-freaking-Finals, the thing he’s an expert in.
“… He made you look like fools for handing him a blank check in the first place, because doesn’t even give a s–t about the stuff that he’s paid a gazillion dollars to talk about. Now he’s turning around and turning that into a money-making opportunity… and it looks like a fraudulent crap business to begin with.”
