Four days since his statement regarding provocation and domestic violence, and one day after issuing an apology for the remarks, 'First Take' co-host Stephen A. Smith was suspended by ESPN.
ESPN confirmed the suspension to USAToday.com.
"ESPN announced today that Stephen A. Smith will not appear on 'First Take' or ESPN Radio for the next week. He will return to ESPN next Wednesday," ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said in a statement.
Smith, who regularly offers his opinion on various sports-related topics during the show, addressed the issue of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice receiving a two-game ban by the NFL. The ban stems from a domestic assault charge Rice received for allegedly knocking out his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in February.
A grand jury later indicted Rice on a charge of third-degree aggravated assault. Shortly thereafter, Rice entered a not-guilty plea to the charge. He enrolled in a pretrial intervention program in May, allowing him to avoid jail time.
"Now you got some dudes that are just horrible and they're going to do it anyway, and there's never an excuse to put your hands on a woman," Smith said during the show Friday. "But domestic violence or whatever the case may be, with men putting their hands on women, is obviously a very real, real issue in our society.
"And I think that just talking about what guys shouldn't do, we got to also make sure that you can do your part to do whatever you can do to make, to try to make sure it doesn't happen. We know they're wrong. We know they're criminals. We know they probably deserve to be in jail.
"In Ray Rice's case, he probably deserves more than a two-game suspension which we both acknowledged. But at the same time, we also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation. Not that there's real provocation, but the elements of provocation, you got to make sure that you address them, because we've got to do is do what we can to try to prevent the situation from happening in any way.
"And I don't think that's broached enough, is all I'm saying. No point of blame."
Smith received a lot criticism for his comment on social media. ESPN colleague Michelle Beadle chimed in on Twitter to criticize Smith.
So I was just forced to watch this morning's First Take. A) I'll never feel clean again B) I'm now aware that I can provoke my own beating.
— Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) July 25, 2014
I'm thinking about wearing a miniskirt this weekend...I'd hate to think what I'd be asking for by doing so @stephenasmith. #dontprovoke — Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) July 25, 2014
The incident occurred while the two were in an elevator at an Atlantic City, N.J., hotel. The two have since married.
A grand jury later indicted Rice on a charge of third-degree aggravated assault. Shortly thereafter, Rice entered a not-guilty plea to the charge. He enrolled in a pretrial intervention program in May, allowing him to avoid jail time.
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