"At the bottom of that is, ‘They’re not about to get paid more than me ... Sounds like jealousy to me."
Monica McNutt calls out ‘jealousy’ in Stephen A. Smith contract negotiations with ESPN
Monica McNutt insists she and Stephen A. Smith remain on good terms following an on-air argument earlier this year over First Take‘s coverage of the WNBA and women’s sports.
During a segment discussing Clark and how the WNBA and its players reacted to her arrival in the league as its No. 1 draft pick, McNutt took aim at Smith for not doing more to cover the “W” and other women’s sports leagues sooner.
But in a recent profile of McNutt at the Washington Post, the ESPN commentator and New York Knicks radio game analyst took an interesting shot at Smith’s looming contract negotiations with the worldwide leader.
During their June First Take clash, Smith insisted WNBA players were “jealous” of Clark and that the league should do more to protect its “asset” in Clark. In the WaPo profile, McNutt turned those accusations of jealousy back around on Smith.
“You mean to tell me that nobody in the NBA and NFL is jealous?” McNutt asked at breakfast. “Why is this a thing that women can’t be?”
Then, McNutt added a kicker that cut directly at Smith’s own jealousy as he seeks to become the highest-paid talent at ESPN.
“The numbers he’s going after because of [Pat] McAfee, [Troy] Aikman, [Joe] Buck, he might say they’re raising market value,” McNutt told WaPo reporter Ben Strauss. “But at the bottom of that is, ‘They’re not about to get paid more than me.'”
“Sounds like jealousy to me, but I haven’t seen Inside Out 2.”
Indeed, Smith has made no secret of his desire to out-earn ESPN’s biggest stars and his belief that the market will prove his worth. Smith believes his podcast, First Take, NBA coverage, and coveted role on NFL broadcasts make him worth tens of millions to ESPN.
But it’s one thing to believe that and another to point the finger at athletes who are “jealous” as if it’s a bad thing.
McNutt has appeared just once on First Take since the day after that June 3 blowup (when the show was live from the National Association of Black Journalists conference) but maintains that she and Smith remain cordial.
“We don’t have any issues,” McNutt told WaPo. “He’s a machine. The news cycle kept moving, and he kept moving, as did I.”
Sources tell Awful Announcing that McNutt was asked to appear on First Take in August, but a scheduling conflict prevented it.
Smith has certainly upped his coverage of the WNBA since that day (and prior to it) during Clark’s rookie season. But the fallout in terms of how he is perceived among women’s sports fans and his relationships within ESPN is less clear.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.