Stephen A. Smith ‘Heartbroken’ by Lawsuit Accusing His Former Colleague of Sexual Harassment: ‘Not the Skip Bayless I Know’
Stephen A. Smith on Monday said he was “heartbroken” to hear that his former colleague Skip Bayless was accused of sexual assault at Fox Sports.
Bayless, who left Fox Sports in August after eight years with the company. On Sunday, it was reported that a former hairstylist filed a lawsuit accusing him and multiple other figures within Fox of sexually harassing her throughout her 12 years there. The hairstylist specifically accused Bayless of making unwanted advances, touching her inappropriately, and even offering her $1.5 million for sex. At the time of writing, Bayless has yet to comment on the allegations.
Due to their time together on the industry-altering show First Take, Bayless and Smith’s names will always be associating with one another. That being the case, Smith felt compelled to discuss the matter on Monday’s episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show. There, Smith revealed that he wasn’t not privy to any other information since he works for a different company; but the man described in the lawsuit was not the one he remembers working with.
Making the allegations especially shocking, Smith added, was the fact that Bayless “trusts almost no one.”
“Eating the same breakfast and lunch every day,” Smith continued. “His vise is a Diet Mountain Dew; and he doesn’t socialize with people. 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 it’s not the Skip Bayless I know.”
Smith said people in the know have described the hairstylist as “meticulous with her details” and that she’s known to “chronicle things and that’s how she operates.”
“I don’t know her,” Smith said. “I don’t know them. I know Skip; and 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.”
