Stephen A. Smith says he’s ‘one of the few people on the planet [Skip Bayless] ever trusted’

Skip Bayless has provided plenty of hot takes over the years, but his tweet about Damar Hamlin seemed to have united the sports world under the notion that the Undisputed host had gone too far and needed to apologize or be held accountable by Fox Sports. Neither of those things really happened and Bayless seems as defiant as ever.

While plenty of Bayless’ fellow Fox coworkers haven’t had a problem calling him out over the past few weeks over his comments, one person who won’t be taking him to task is Stephen A. Smith, whose job used to be to yell at Bayless (and vice versa).

Smith appeared on The Ringer’s Real Ones with Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Thursday and he shared that while they don’t agree on a lot, there’s a mutual respect of sorts between them (transcribed by Barrett Sports Media’s Ricky Keeler).

“Skip Bayless is one of those dudes that is an introvert. He’s a loner. He does things his way in ways nobody else does them. I’m one of the few people on the planet he’s ever trusted. We don’t agree on much. I didn’t agree with his tweet when Damar Hamlin went down. I didn’t agree with him years ago with what he said about Troy Aikman. I’ve never agreed with the incessant criticism of LeBron James. He does not care.

“What he cares about is that I’m going to disagree with his perspective, but not try to character-assassinate him. I’m not even saying that other people — he hasn’t brought it down upon himself for other people to act that way. If you are Russell Westbrook, you should have a problem with him calling you Westbrick. If you are Chris Bosh, you should have a problem with him calling you Bosh Spice.

“Just respect the fact I can’t do that. I wouldn’t be on First Take if it wasn’t for Skip Bayless. I owe him that. I can disagree with him, I can tell you I disagree with him, I can argue and butt heads back and forth with him, but what I would never do is betray his trust because I know him in ways other people don’t.”

While Smith says he won’t call out Bayless, he did find time to call out Skip’s Undisputed co-host Shannon Sharpe, saying that he shouldn’t have no-showed the day after the tweet that set off all this drama.

Smith likes to talk about how he’ll say whatever he wants about anyone he wants, but he’s also made it clear that he draws the line pretty quickly when the situation involves someone he considers a friend, regardless of their actions.

[The Ringer’s Real Ones, Barrett Sports Media]