Stephen A. Smith Talks Skip Bayless Fallout: 'He Never Called Me Back'

Stephen A. Smith insists he holds no ill will toward Skip Bayless.

The sports analyst/radio host addressed the topic in the latest episode of Cam’ron’s Talk with Flee podcast series, where he was asked to describe his relationship with his former First Take colleague.

“I don’t have one,” Smith said. “I have nothing bad to say. I’m eternally grateful to Skip Bayless, who brought me to First Take… because you should never forget somebody that gave you that opportunity. You really, really shouldn’t.

Smith added that there's no "negative light" to their lack of a relationship. “It’s me letting you know that, ‘Yo, bro, I picked up the phone on several occasions.’ I called him. He never called me back. So, to me, if you’re that kind of person, that doesn’t make you bad, it just means we can’t vibe because I’m gonna answer a call.”

The Smith and Bayless rift seemingly stemmed from a 2022 episode of Undisputed, in which Bayless discredited Shannon Sharpe’s NFL career. Although Bayless and Sharpe had plenty of arguments over the years, the 2022 comments ultimately led Sharpe to leave the series. The three-time Super Bowl champion spoke about the drama during a 2023 appearance on Smith’s podcast.

“Whatever the relationship is, once one partner has no respect for the other, the other partner then, in turn, loses respect for said partner, then I think it is only a matter of time,” Sharpe said about his Undisputed exit. “I felt in that moment he had lost all respect for me.”

Smith agreed and went so far as to call Bayless’ words “flagrantly wrong.”

“I called him, and he never reached back out,” Smith said about Bayless. “So, I stopped reaching out.”

But it appears Smith didn’t immediately give up. As suggested in the Talk with Flee episode, Smith tried contacting Bayless multiple times without a single response. Although the situation was, no doubt, disappointing, Smith made it clear he had no beef with his former friend. 

“I got a lot of people over the last year or two that’ve really, really pised me off. I’m picking up the phone if they call,” he told Cam’ron, before alluding to his feud with Jason Whitlock. “There’s only one person that I won’t pick up the phone for. Everyone knows who that person is. That no-good, sorry-ass… I don’t have to say their name. Outside of that one human being on the planet Earth… Anybody else calls me, I’m gonna pick up the phone.”

Smith said Bayless had every “right” not to return his calls, especially when the Sharpe controversy was playing out, but believed he and Bayless had too much history to ignore one another.

“That’s his prerogative,” Smith said. “Our relationship goes back too long for me to not get a call from you when I called you. So when you made that decision, cool. Live with your decision. I wish you nothing but the best… Whatever makes Skip happy, I’m hopeful it happens for him. I will always love Skip, even when I adamantly and emphatically disagree with some of the things he says and does.”