Stephen A. Smith blasted for flirting with Chiney Ogwumike: 'Turned me on'

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Stephen A. Smith blasted for flirting with Chiney Ogwumike: 'Turned me on' originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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The internet is not happy about Stephen A. Smith's recent comments about Chiney Ogwumike.

Ogwumike is an analyst on ESPN alongside Smith and while she was talking about  NBA star Rudy Gobert, she spoke a little in French as he was born there. However, Ogwumike's speaking French seemed to get Smith excited. 

"I've got to get a little personal for a second here, Chiney," Smith said on Friday's episode of First Take. "Listen, I'm leaving the life. I'm pretty damn happy to say the last. But, I must admit, in all my years on this earth, I've never dated a woman from France or anything like that, but after hearing Chiney, what have I been missing? What have I been missing?"

He added, "That verbiage right there, that kind of turned me on."

Ogwumike responded to the moment by covering her face and laughing it off.

Several fans took the interaction as harassment, and some have even called for Smith to be fired after the comment.

"HR calling an emergency meeting after this," a fan wrote under an X post of the clip.

A fan thought others were looking into the clip too deep.

"Stephan [sp] A Knows how to keep the Show fresh," the fan wrote on X. "There was nothing overly sexual to that it was friendly flirting and keep the Show lively Stephan A Smith understand TV he knows you can’t follow no bulls--t TV rules you have to make people want to watch."

Another fan wrote on X, "This kind of massive overstepping is exactly why female analysts constantly struggle for respect. A male anchor openly declaring he is turned on by a female colleague highlights how women are still fundamentally viewed as basic entertainment rather than equal peers."

"This isn’t funny at all. Just utterly unprofessional and inappropriate," another fan reacted to the clip on X. 

So far, neither Ogwumike nor Smith has reacted to the viral moment. 

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