Stephen A. Smith doesn't think ESPN should've fired Donovan McNabb
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Stephen A. Smith defended Donovan McNabb — a guest on his “Know Mercy” podcast — more than five years after the latter was fired by ESPN following a sexual harassment investigation.
Around the 10-minute mark of the episode, which was released Friday, Smith transitioned their conversation by telling McNabb that he thinks “you should be on TV more, quite frankly.”
“I haven’t seen you on TV enough,” he asked the 46-year-old and former NFL quarterback. “Do you feel that way about yourself?”
“Absolutely,” McNabb, who overlapped with Smith and the “First Take” show at ESPN, replied. “Should’ve still been on TV, but that’s a whole other issue.”
Smith then continued addressing the decision by his current employer, adding “that’s an issue.”
“I ain’t gonna get too much into specifics, but we all know what you were accused of and what have you, and as a result of that, you were taken off television,” Smith said. “I still don’t think it was fair. I’m saying it for the record.”
McNabb was among a group of NFL Network analysts named in a 2017 lawsuit filed by by Jami Cantor, one of the networks’ former wardrobe stylists, that brought forward the sexual harassment allegations. He had changed employers and worked for ESPN at the time, but ESPN still suspended him after the allegations surfaced.
The network fired him in 2018. McNabb denied the allegations made by Cantor against him, including in an interview with The Post a month after ESPN’s decision.
“There’s an ongoing investigation at the NFLN, and I certainly respect the need for change with regard to this issue, but as far as my situation, I did not sexually harass anyone,” McNabb told The Post in the February 2018 interview.
TMZ Sports reported seven months later that NFL Network had reached a settlement with Cantor.
Prior to his stint in television, McNabb spent 13 years in the NFL — 11 with the Eagles, one with the Vikings and one with Washington — and made six Pro Bowls. He also led the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance in 2004, where they lost to Tom Brady and the Patriots.
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