{"id":126421,"date":"2026-04-02T14:42:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/stephen-a-smith-former-espn-colleague-clash-about-why-men-stay-silent-on-trans-athletes-in-girls-sports-126421"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:42:35","slug":"stephen-a-smith-former-espn-colleague-clash-about-why-men-stay-silent-on-trans-athletes-in-girls-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/stephen-a-smith-former-espn-colleague-clash-about-why-men-stay-silent-on-trans-athletes-in-girls-sports-126421","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A Smith, former ESPN colleague clash about why men stay silent on trans athletes in girls’ sports"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Former ESPN colleagues Stephen A. Smith<\/a> and Sage Steele reunited on the latter’s podcast to discuss a plethora of issues, one of which focused on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.<\/p>\n

The discussion got rather contentious at first, as Steele asked Smith why it took him “three years” to speak out, but Smith clarified that he spoke about Lia Thomas at UPenn<\/a> from “day one” on ESPN’s “First Take.”<\/p>\n

In any case, the two do agree on the subject, and Steele asked Smith why he thinks men of power have been quiet on the issue.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

“Why do you think so many male athletes \u2014 we work with these men every single day, NFL, NBA, whatever it is, who\u2019ve got not as much to risk – they\u2019ve got $150 million in their pocket, or maybe it\u2019s much less, I don\u2019t care. This is common sense,” Steele asked Smith. “And many of them, like you, have daughters who are athletes. Are you going to let a young man at the volleyball net play against your daughter knowing what\u2019s at risk? We have seen the injuries.<\/p>\n

“And so there are way too many men\u2026 in prominent positions who have the financial security. This is not your $65,000-a-year job, someone who\u2019s a janitor and is trying to talk in a school board meeting who really could lose his job for this opinion, which is insane. These men in sports who know damn well a woman could not compete are staying silent. Why?”<\/p>\n

SAGE STEELE RECALLS HOW STEPHEN A SMITH WARNED HER AGAINST SPEAKING OUT WHILE STILL AT ESPN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Some guys, some people, and this is very, very sad, some people don’t care about a damn thing unless it affects them directly. We just got to call it like we see it,” Smith obliged. “Some of us are conscientious enough to say, ‘Bump that, I got this public platform, ain’t no way I can sit silently and say nothing.’ Some people, when it comes to politics, it’s a cesspool. It’s been a cesspool. This is the latest issue.”<\/p>\n

Smith’s answer seemed to take Steele by surprise, as it’s been studied that nearly 80% of people agree that transgender athletes should not compete against biological females.<\/p>\n

“This is the one thing that I actually believe would bring more people together. I said this from day one with women in my industry, if half of us sportscasters had stood up and said, ‘You know what? As women, we’re going to protect these women,’ we would not be in this position,” Steele answered.<\/p>\n

“There’s plenty of women that didn’t, just like there’s plenty of men did not,” Smith hit back. “So in other words, Sage, what that means is those who are courageous enough to put themselves out on front street and tackle issues for the betterment of the whole of others are few and far between.”<\/p>\n

Smith last week said “Real Time with Bill Maher” that “biological men should not<\/a> be competing against biological girls in sports, period.”<\/p>\n

“What about protecting the young ladies? Young ladies going up against biological men \u2014 biological men \u2014 there is no excuse for that.”<\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong><\/i>sports coverage on X<\/strong><\/i><\/a>,\u00a0and subscribe to\u00a0<\/strong><\/i>the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/stephen-smith-former-espn-colleague-clash-about-why-men-stay-silent-trans-athletes-girls-sports <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former ESPN colleagues Stephen A. 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