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2020 NBA All-Star - Celebrity Game Presented By Ruffles

Source: Stacy Revere / Getty

Stephen A. Smith is seemingly down with Laura Ingraham’s “shut up and dribble” gang, this after he went after NBA players opting to fight racial injustice instead of lacing them up. The ESPN host singled out Kyrie Irving, Dwight Howard, and others who have stated that Black lives matter more than basketball, but Smith unloaded on the players which prompted slander heading in his direction.

Irving said via a call between NBA players last Friday that, “I don’t support going into Orlando. I’m not with the systematic racism and the bullsh*t. Something smells a little fishy.”

Howard backed up Irving, saying, “Basketball, or entertainment period, isn’t needed at this moment, and will only be a distraction. Sure it might not distract us the players, but we have resources at hand majority of our community don’t have.”

On ESPN’s Get Up! program, Smith launched into one of his classic impassioned rants in response to both Irving and Howard stating their position on why the NBA season needn’t resume. Smith stated that the pair would have been more within their rights to not play this season due to COVID-19 concerns, but stopped short of giving credence to their reasonings for wanting to sit out.

“Racial oppression has existed, it’s going to exist after this summer, it’s going to exist next year, it’s going to exist the year after, a year from now, ten years from now, 20 years from now,” Smith said. “Anybody in our society that thinks this thing is going to be completely eradicated is fooling themselves.”

Smith ended his salvo towards Irving and Howard, stating clearly that they can, “can fight the fight while still showing up to work.”

As it stands, Smith’s argument for players returning back to work despite their valid concerns for not wanting to do so has garnered a response from Twitter who have collectively let Smith know how boneheaded his stance was. Check out those reactions below.

Photo: Getty

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