Stephen A. Smith says he’s “heartbroken” that former ESPN colleague Skip Bayless is dealing with a office misconduct lawsuit accusing him and others of sexual battery, amongst different allegations.
“His vice is a Diet Mountain Dew, and he doesn’t socialize with people,” Smith stated on Monday’s episode of his “Stephen A. Smith Show” podcast. “That’s the guy I know. So imagining him being in this kind of position is shocking, to say the least. All I could tell you is that it’s not the Skip Bayless I know.”
The go well with was filed Friday in Los Angeles by Noushin Faraji, who’d labored as a hairstylist at Fox Sports throughout Bayless’ tenure there. Faraji alleged that he made repeated sexual advances towards her starting in 2017, together with “lingering hugs,” “kisses on the cheek” and urgent in opposition to her. She additionally accused him of providing her $1.5 million for intercourse in 2021, and stated he threatened her job after she refused.
“I can’t imagine it,” Smith stated as he mirrored on the accusations. “The Skip Bayless I know has a hard time giving away $15. He’s one of the cheapest people I know. That’s just me, but that doesn’t mean that I have any inside knowledge about any of this.”
Smith and Bayless labored collectively as sports activities analysts on ESPN’s “First Take” from 2012 to 2016, earlier than Bayless left for Fox Sports 1. There, he helped lead the present “Undisputed” till saying his exit from the community final yr.
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Along with Bayless, Faraji’s go well with names his former Fox Sports 1 colleague Pleasure Taylor, the Fox Corp. and community govt Charlie Dixon, with allegations together with negligent supervision, hiring and retention; retaliation; and making a hostile work surroundings within the interval from 2012 to 2024, the yr she stated she was fired. Faraji stated that the explanations behind her dismissal have been “fabricated.”
Information of the go well with was first reported by Entrance Workplace Sports, which obtained a press release from Fox Sports saying, “We take these allegations seriously and have no further comment at this time given this pending litigation.”
HuffPost has reached out to Bayless for remark.
On his podcast, Smith stated he doesn’t know Faraji personally, however that within the final 24 hours he’d spoken to individuals who possessed “some knowledge about her” and advised him that she’s “meticulous with her details.”
“I don’t know them; I know Skip,” he added. “I’m very, very heartbroken that he finds himself in this situation, being accused of these allegations. But I can’t be over the airwaves being irresponsible and attaching truth or … guilt to anything that I know nothing about.”
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Need assistance? Go to RAINN’s Nationwide Sexual Assault On-line Hotline or the Nationwide Sexual Violence Useful resource Middle’s web site.
