Stephen A. Smith: People only care about the Sussexes when theyre insulting the royals
Stephen A. Smith is a longtime ESPN commentator, popular for his shady and humorous commentary. There are a lot of memes and GIFs of him. Smith also had a podcast, and this week, he decided to chime in on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Spotify mess. Keep in mind, Smith also knows Bill Simmons, the Spotify executive who called Harry and Meghan “f–king grifters” – Simmons used to work at ESPN before he was sh-tcanned for his disrespectful behavior within the network. Interesting sidenote: while Simmons has been on the record about his support of former ESPN journalist Jemele Hill, Hill is escaping Spotify too. Hill and Spotify announced they were parting ways before the Sussexes/Spotify story happened. But of course, everything always happens in a silo with the Sussexes, right? It’s never about the larger story. In any case, Stephen A. Smith decided to chat about the Sussexes, so here you go:
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, has said the couple are only interesting when “insulting their family.”
“If Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex ain’t complaining about the royal family, I don’t know if anybody cares what they have to say,” Smith said on his podcast, The Stephen A. Smith Show. “… I’m not trying to dog [Meghan] like she doesn’t have any talent or anything like that. She did damn good on Suits… I love Suits. Matter of fact, I’m gonna watch it again. But what I’m saying is, you don’t really care what they have to say unless they’re insulting their family.”
Smith also addressed the critical comments made of the couple by his former ESPN colleague Bill Simmons.
He said: “I like Bill. I respect the hell out of Bill Simmons, ain’t no shade here. But Bill Simmons was going off… Bill Simmons seemed very happy they were gone.”
Smith, added “I never knew what the hell ‘grifters’ meant. So I had to look it up….In all seriousness, he’s qualified to say that. I am not, because I know nothing of them. I know nothing about their [Spotify] deal… I didn’t think that was necessary, but then again, he works at Spotify, not me. So he knows more than I would ever know about that particular situation, which means it came from a personal place.”
“He works at Spotify” – which is why Simmons’ comments were so ridiculous. It’s an asinine way to do business for a Spotify executive to publicly trash two people who were under contract at his company. It’s bad management, it’s bad PR (for Spotify) and it blew up in Simmons face in real time as Spotify’s golden goose Joe Rogan hosted an hour-long conversation with one of the most despicable anti-vaxxers in America, Robert Kennedy Jr, and then Rogan spent the f–king weekend arguing with a immunologist on Twitter! I mean, y’all want to talk about grifters…
As for Smith’s comment about “you don’t really care what they have to say unless they’re insulting their family” – this has become some kind of bizarre talking point in the past week, with commentators suggesting that the Sussexes’ only thing is talking sh-t about the Windsors. Like… Meghan had a whole popular podcast that wasn’t about that? I guess Smith missed it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Stephen A. Smith at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Eric Braeden Starring on The Young and the Restless on the set at CBS Television City on February 7, 2020 Â,Image: 563379347, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: jpistudios.com / JPI Studios / Avalon 
BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – AUGUST 20: Sports television personality Stephen A. Smith arrives at the 21st Annual Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 20, 2021 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 628132867, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Stephen A. Smith, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon 
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Friday, June 3, 2022 on the second of four days of celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee. The events over a long holiday weekend in the U.K. are meant to celebrate the monarch’s 70 years of service.,Image: 696640808, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Matt Dunham / Avalon
03/06/2022. London, United Kingdom. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle , the Duke and Duchess of Sussex leaving a Service of Thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St.Paul’s Cathedral in London, on day two of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.,Image: 696677182, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Stephen Lock / Avalon 
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrive for the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on June 03, 2022 in London, England. The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II is being celebrated from June 2 to June 5, 2022, in the UK and Commonwealth to mark the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952.,Image: 696678053, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: ARTHUR EDWARDS / Avalon 
Prince Harry departs The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Thursday 30 March, 2023. He is part of a group suing the Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) in the High Court over phone hacking allegations.,Image: 766160550, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / AvalonncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcWpiboBze9KtnKmglaOsoqvSpqCtoI%2BlsrC8y56WqKacrqykrdGelpqan6rBoMDHnpasraOosrmx0piuoZ2elMGpsdirnJihnqjCrcDIp56YrJiarLO72JqjrGc%3D