ESPN has suspended First Take co-host Stephen A. Smith over comments he made about Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice’s suspension for domestic violence.
“Stephen A. Smith will not appear on First Take or ESPN radio for the next week,” read a statement on the show’s website. “He will return to ESPN next Wednesday.”
Earlier this week, Smith apologized for comments he made suggesting that women sometimes “provoke” being hit. He later called his comments “the most egregious error of my career.”
“My words came across that it is somehow a woman’s fault,” he said. “This was not my intent. It is not what I was trying to say. Yet the failture to clearly articulate something different lies squarely on my shoulders.”