Stephen A Smith Apologizes For His Comment On Shohei Ohtani

stephen a smith
stephen a smith

Stephen A Smith apologized right away as soon as he realized his mistake. He seemingly made an insensitive comment about Shohei Ohtani. He criticized the baseball star’s accent. Smith asked Shohei to learn proper English for better promotion of MLB. 

Stephen A Smith Admits Mistakes, Takes Back Insensitive Comments About Ohtani

In a long apology post, Stephen A Smith apologized and clarified himself. He stated that his intention was never to hurt or offend any community or race. He took the blame on himself and said that it was his mistake. 

Smith expressed his concerns regarding the issues an Afro-American faces. He felt he should have encouraged Ohtani. Smith appreciated the fact that Ohtani was a blooming young talent. Stephen regretted his comment as he felt it was insensitive. He wrote that his comment might have hurt the feelings of the already oppressed community of Asians & Africans.

Earlier, Stephen A Smith pointed at Ohtani’s inability to speak English. He commented that it can harm the popularity of the game. He stated the difficulty to connect with the audience. In an attempt to clarify himself, Stephen posted a video on Twitter. He spoke about his intentions in the video. He explained that any athlete who wanted to gain stature needs to connect with the audience. English speaking can be a great mode of connecting. 

Stephen A Smith said that what he meant was that speaking the English language would be handy. Any athlete fluent in the language can easily become popular. If a popular star can connect well with the audience, it would benefit the game too. Stephen elaborated that it would help the game get promoted as well.