Updated at 5:45 p.m.
ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith has been suspended from the network for one week following controversial comments he made suggesting an NFL player’s wife may have provoked the alleged severe beating that landed her husband in jail.
Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice received a slap-on-the-wrist, two-game suspension after being arrested and indicted for allegedly hitting his now-wife so hard that he knocked her unconscious. Following the NFL’s announcement of the punishment, Smith implied Monday on First Take that women need to be careful about what they do or say so as not to tempt men to viciously attack them:
We know you have no business putting your hands on a woman. I don’t know how many times I got to reiterate that… But what I’ve tried to employ the female members of my family, some of who you all met and talked to and what have you, is that again, and this what, I’ve done this all my life, let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions, because if I come, or somebody else come, whether it’s law enforcement officials, your brother or the fellas that you know, if we come after somebody has put their hands on you, it doesn’t negate the fact that they already put their hands on you. So let’s try to make sure that we can do our part in making sure that that doesn’t happen.
He goes on:
In Ray Rice’s case, he probably deserves more than a 2-game suspension which we both acknowledged. But at the same time, we also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation. Not that there’s real provocation, but the elements of provocation, you got to make sure that you address them, because we’ve got to do is do what we can to try to prevent the situation from happening in any way. And I don’t think that’s broached enough, is all I’m saying. No point of blame.
ESPN announced in a message to USA Today Tuesday that Smith won’t appear on First Take or ESPN radio “for the next week.” He’ll return to work on Wednesday, the network said.
ESPN host Michelle Beadle fired back at Smith after the segment on Twitter.
She has also retweeted several violent threats that were made against her following her comments.
Smith responded by trying to clarify his position and apologizing to Beadle. He tweets that he never accused women of being wrong. But he also concludes, “I was simply saying to take all things into consideration for preventative purposes.”
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