Stephen A. Would Lose A Lot Of Money If White Viewers Took His Advice And Stopped Watching Him

ESPN host Stephen A. Smith told white viewers they were not permitted to comment or worry about his report regarding black coaches anonymously criticizing the Lakers replacing a black coach (Darvin Ham) with a white coach (JJ Redick).

"Black coaches called a black commentator to complain about a black superstar doing a podcast while his black head coach was on the hot seat before he ultimately lost the damn job," Smith said earlier this week on First Take. "What does that have to do with white folks? Some things are none of your damn business."

Smith thought his comments were empowering: shut up and listen, white people. He knew he'd draw the applause of Black Twitter. And that he did. However, we couldn't help but envision the outcome if white folks took his order literally and stopped caring about what he said.

Stephen A. Smith. (Photo by Luther Schlaifer/NBAE via Getty Images)

Stephen A. is currently negotiating a new contract with ESPN. He reportedly turned down an $18 million-a-year offer earlier this month. He seeks $25 million annually. 

The argument in favor of elevating Smith into that echelon of pay is tied to ratings. His daily television show, First Take, has posted viewership gains for 22 consecutive months.

However, Smith primarily discusses black athletes and coaches in the NBA and NFL – on which, per Stephen A, white people are now not allowed to have an opinion. 

And while the African American consumption of the show (around 53 percent of the audience) well outpaces the national average of black Americans (12 percent), just under half of the audience is still white. 

Put simply, Smith's reach and influence would crater if white people started to "mind their own damn business" and turned the channel. Forget a $25 million salary, he wouldn't be worth half of ESPN's initial offer if his audience no longer included white people.

Of course, Stephen A's white audience won't entirely evaporate over his commentary about "white folks." Still, it's plausible that his comments, coupled with other recent discriminatory remarks about white Americans, could cause his white demographic to show some erosion. 

Viewers, in general, do not appreciate television hosts telling them they do not matter. The late-night television industry tried that method by increasingly showing disdain toward conservatives in 2016. Viewership and ad revenue subsequently plummeted, as a result. 

The rapid decline of late night should serve as a cautionary tale to hosts opting to dismiss entire demographics, political or racial:

Via Axios (https://www.axios.com/2023/04/28/late-night-tv-corden-ratings-decline)

For Smith, any negative pattern in viewership could influence his negotiations with ESPN. The company will use any sliver of doubt against him when deciding whether to meet his 5-year, $125 million wishes.

Scoffing at white viewers might work well if the host's objective is to appeal only to a radical black audience, like, say, Bomani Jones or Jemele Hill do. But Smith's objective is not to be the Marc Lamont Hill of sports. 

His admitted goal is to be the modern-day Howard Cosell. Smith needs white, Asian, and Hispanic viewers to be Cosell. 

Further, Stephen A. acknowledged in an interview with Rich Eisen on Wednesday that ESPN asked employees to stay away from politics in 2018 because it was "hurting the network."

"I don’t blame Jimmy Pitaro and ESPN for doing this one bit when Jimmy Pitaro arrived around 2017, 2018 and he wanted us to veer away from politics and he was absolutely right because it was hurting the network and things of that nature," Smith said. "I completely supported him then. I completely support him now.

Politics hurt ESPN because the topics were divisive. Divisive topics are not good business for general sports networks. And if there's one topic more divisive than politics, it's telling an entire race they are not allowed to comment on a topic at hand. 

Consequently, Smith's place atop ESPN is not as sturdy as he believes.

Pat McAfee is younger and far less politically polarizing than Smith. NFL Live hosts Laura Rutledge and Dan Orlovsky don't have Smith's national cachet, but their ratings are just as strong and neither makes racist comments. The network could also sign Colin Cowherd away from FS1 in a year and replace much of Smith's current star power.

Stephen A. understands the race card is powerful inside Disney and in the press. But the race card doesn't appeal to viewers at large. And viewers, ultimately, determine his worth.

White viewers matter, too. 

Stephen A. is flying close to the sun by pretending otherwise.