"I almost said the word motherfu**er": Stephen A. Smith once held back swear words on live TV as 'White dude' called for his ESPN termination

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has long been one of the most prominent sports talk show personalities. He has never been afraid to speak his mind on a variety of controversial topics.

As a result, his eccentric personality has earned ESPN hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. So, whenever people question his value to the company, Smith gives them an earful. That includes an instance when Smith almost called a Sports Illustrated writer a motherfu**er on live television.

During a recent appearance on “The Joe Budden Podcast,” Smith spoke about the ordeal. According to the ESPN analyst, the SI writer wondered why ESPN laid off many of its workers but kept him. Smith took offense with the writer for even suggesting that ESPN let him go:

“If you remember, I made news about a year and a half ago (after) ESPN made these layoffs,” Smith said.

“It was this White dude from Sports Illustrated that was like, ‘They fired all of these people, but they kept Stephen A.’ I was like, ‘Yo, I make money for the company. I make money. They're not paying me because, ‘Oh you got numbers.’’

He continued:

“Well, my numbers generate revenue; revenue is what pays for other people. So, I'm bringing in over 150 to 200 million dollars to the company, and you're talking about (how) I should lose my job?”

According to Smith, he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from cussing at the writer on live TV:

“Literally, I remember I was on First Take one day, and I almost said the word motherfu**er,” Smith said. “My words were going to be, ‘Motherfu**er, pay attention.’”

(2:07:08 mark below)

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Stephen A. Smith says he doesn’t like people in his business who pretend they don’t know his value to ESPN

ESPN talk show personality Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith clarified that he has no problem with people outside the sports entertainment industry who question his value. However, Smith said that he does have issues with anyone in his business who pretends that they don’t know how valuable he is to ESPN:

“You see, what pisses me off is that that man had access to this business. He's in the business. He knew the numbers. He knew the facts but he wouldn't tell,” Smith said. “But if you’re not in the business, I’m good with you. You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Smith added that he will continue to call out anyone in his business who questions his worth moving forward:

“But in this business, I do know, and I knew that that writer knew that, and I knew that some of the critics knew that. So, I’m like, ‘Why the hell ain’t y’all saying so?’” Smith said. “So, guess what? I’mma be that guy that tells the world.”