It was an eventful ESPN reunion when Stephen A. Smith stopped by Cari Champion and Jemele Hill’s podcast for a three-hour interview, to say the least.
During Wednesday’s installment of the “Flagrant and Funny” podcast, Champion and Smith hashed out years of drama — such as her true origin story of joining ESPN, which she felt Smith took credit for.
“Skip Bayless did not want to hire you,” Smith said of his former “First Take” co-host.
“Neither did you,” Champion replied.
Champion joined ESPN in October 2012 as the moderator of “First Take” with Smith and Bayless — who was an original host on the show from 2007 until June 2016.
Champion went on to host “SportsCenter” in 2015 and then “SportsNation,” before leaving the Worldwide Leader in January 2020.
Smith said that Champion “wanted the job at ‘SportsCenter’” adding, “You wanted to come back.”
Champion replied, “That is not true Stephen A. I know you lying. That is not true. We are disagreeing right now.”
Smith didn’t budge.
“We’ll disagree,” he said. “I don’t lie.”
Champion also said she and Hill and a “bunch of blonde women” auditioned for the “First Take” role.
She previously discussed her time at ESPN on multiple occasions and said she felt she “didn’t matter” during her time hosting “First Take” with Smith and Bayless.
Bayless left ESPN in April 2016, when his contract officially expired and went to Fox Sports 1 (FS1) to launch “Undisputed” that August.
Part 2 of their conversation drops Friday.
