Stephen A. Smith Is Getting Sued for Defamation of Character

In some news that will make most people smile, Stephen A. Smith and ESPN are being sued by some parents of Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West youth baseball team. Jackie Robinson West (JRW) of course won the Little League title in 2014, but prior to that happening some coaches on other teams had mentioned that some of the kids on the team had been picked from areas outside the team’s proper recruiting zone. Therefore, those players were essentially ineligible to play for JRW.

JRW even had their chance to go to the White House to visit President Obama. Unfortunately for JRW, the rumors surrounding the team picking players from other areas persisted and eventually led to the team being stripped of the Little League title for 2014.

So where do Stephen A. Smith and ESPN fit in to all of this you ask? According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the attorney for the parents wrote in the lawsuit the following:

“Little League was aware of the potential residency issues of the children of the JRW Parents, but chose to ignore and/or deliberately conceal these facts in order to garner higher ratings, publicity, and money for defendant Little League. Little League deliberately capitalized on the notoriety of the JRW Team and the JRW Parents in order to bolster its corporate image, gain donations and otherwise profit from the unique appeal of the JRW Tournament Team . . . [to] enhance its corporate image to raise, among other things, the value of its television deal with ESPN”

The suit specifically mentioned Smith for his comments on ESPN that “defamed” former JRW head coach Darold Butler for “throwing” his players “into the wind.” This is the video from ESPN’s First Take that has Smith in hot water.

Here’s the part of the lawsuit that addresses Smith courtesy of The Big Lead.

Essentially what the parents are getting at is that the attraction to the media of an all-black team going all the way to the league’s world championship led to Little League and ESPN ignoring the charges that had been previously put out there.

This was bound to happen at some point. I’m just stunned that it hasn’t happened sooner. Smith has been popping off with his mouth like a jackass for years. We’ll see how this plays out.