This feud between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith continues getting weirder. Shortly after the Los Angeles Lakers superstar broke his silence on this beef, the “First Take” host responded in the craziest way possible, causing social media to go into an uproar.
On Wednesday, just mere hours after James clowned Smith on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the sports commentator recorded an episode of the “Stephen A. Smith Show,” responding to the Lakers superstar.
On top of calling James shady, a liar, and “two-faced, Smith further claimed that if the future Hall of Famer had “put his hands on him” during their heated interaction earlier this month, he would’ve “swung on him.”
Watch below:
Shortly after this statement went viral on social media, people began to clown the TV personality for his insane statement about James.
In response to the jokes, he wrote in a post on X, “Nice try folks. On my show, I said I would’ve swung on @KingJames had he slapped me — like lots of y’all said I was scared he would’ve done a few weeks ago. I also said immediately after that I would’ve gotten my ass thoroughly kicked by the 6’8”, 250lb Goliath, but folks just left that part of my Youtube sentence out, huh? Okay. Have fun!”
James also caught wind of Smith’s “threat.” Shortly after his game-winning buzzer-beater against the Indiana Pacers, he posted a hilarious clip of Smith practicing his boxing skills.
He wrote in the caption, “WHOMP WHOMP WHOMPPPPPPPP.”
Social media reaction
Smith’s “threat” toward James is all people have talked about since it happened. To no surprise, nobody is taking it seriously and has instead used it as an opportunity to meme the sports commentator.
@joelvmoran wrote on X, “LeBron James vs Stephen A. Smith is even more lopsided than the Kendrick vs Drake beef.”
@theNFLchick commented, “I dunno if you heard but they’re clowning you, sir.”
@JVO_QP added, “Just give up brotha.”
Others were harsher toward Smith for his comments, calling out his “propaganda.”
@_meganmayhem explained in a post, “This is propaganda at its core. You knew damn well LeBron James was not finna put his hands on you, but your talking point is to reference how you would’ve responded to a hypothetical, imaginary corny ass scenario.”