Stephen A. Smith is a man who has never been scared to speak his mind, but there was one athlete that had him shaking in his boots over comments he made about him.
The ESPN personality recently recalled an intense moment he had with the late Kobe Bryant who called him up after watching what he said about him on his show.
“Kobe scared the living s— out of me,” Smith admitted Wednesday during an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show,” per the Barrett Sports Media website. “Kobe was a savant. You did not know more basketball than Kobe Bryant. So when Kobe called you — I can quote him for you right now.”
“Voicemail. ‘You know who this is motherfucker. Get your ass up, pick up the fucking phone and call me back. That bullshit you just said. And don’t keep me waiting. Your ass better not go on the air and say some other shit before you talk to me.’”
His story included multiple f-bombs, s-bombs, and all type of threats that came hurling his way over his words.
“I would say something along the lines of ‘I don’t like the way he’s playing. It’s selfish basketball…I don’t like this decision,’” Smith recalled saying about Kobe.
Kobe would then go on to school him about the game.
“I have no idea why I love your ass, I really don’t,” Bryant would tell Smith. “You go on the air and you say that shit again, I’m calling you to curse your ass out.”
It’s hard to believe we are just a few days away from it being three years since Kobe, Gianna, and many others passed away in a helicopter crash.
Rest in peace to all involved.
