Marcellus Wiley crossed line with Max Kellerman claim

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Stephen A. Smith has a bone to pick with Marcellus Wiley.

Wiley spoke on his podcast last month about Smith pushing Max Kellerman out of “First Take,” and asked rhetorically if one of the reasons that happened was because Kellerman was “smarter” than Smith.

He added that the main thrust of the decision was Kellerman didn’t want to “play the role” that Smith wanted him to.

Smith appeared on “The Breakfast Club” last week and was asked about Wiley’s comments.

“In terms of what Marcellus Wiley said — I only have one thing to say. He and I worked together. I have a lot of respect for him. I know the man he was talking about, that was his best friend. I get all of that. No problem,” Smith said.

“Here’s my only issue: For a black man to stand up there and say another black man is scared of somebody’s intellect, come on bro. That’s just a line you’re crossing. I have nothing to say other than that. That’s sad that he would go that route. I guess he’s going to get attention because everybody watches ‘The Breakfast Club’ every chance we get and you’re going to see us talk about it.”

He continued to fixate on Wiley’s lines about intelligence.

“I’m certainly not going to argue with him. I’ve always had a lot of respect for him. We’ve never had one issue,” Smith said.

“I don’t care what support he has for his boy or anybody else. I get that. I support my boys too. But I would never in a million years say one black man is scared of the intellect of a white man. I would never, ever do that. For him to do something like that, that’s on him.”

Smith said that Kellerman is a “genius” and a “good dude” and he is rooting for both Kellerman and Wiley, but that if he ever sees Wiley again he would confront him for those remarks.

The ESPN star previously said on “The Joe Budden podcast” he had Kellerman booted from “First Take” in 2021 because “I didn’t like working with him,” and questioned why anyone would take Kellerman’s commentary seriously when he isn’t an athlete or journalist.

Wiley said that Smith and ESPN executives “begged” Kellerman to move from Los Angeles — where he was working with Wiley on television and radio — to New York to join “First Take” when Skip Bayless left in 2016, and theorized that Terrell Owens saying on “First Take” that Kellerman is “blacker” than Smith struck a nerve with the latter.

“Max is gone because he didn’t play his role. He didn’t get in where you wanted him to fit in,” Wiley said.

“And Max all of sudden, now, has to deal with the credential attacks. And that’s where I put my pads on … The truth is you cannot attack Max’s credentials.

“OK, Max ain’t a journalist or an athlete. Well, why the hell was I ear-hustling hearing you and them [the ESPN bosses] begging him to come to New York to do the show? Did Max all of a sudden stop playing football that day? When was Max ever an athlete? When was Max ever a traditional journalist?”

Smith was asked last week on “The Breakfast Club” about Owens’ remarks.

“That was just ignorant,” Smith said.

“Black folks, our community, there ain’t nothing in this world I love more than black people. There ain’t nothing I’d rather be other than black. But that don’t mean that we don’t have our issues as a community.

“A lot of times when you think differently, when you think independently, our own gets at you. One minute we want to be independent, maverick style, and the other minute we want to walk around act like we’re supposed to be one monolithic group. I don’t subscribe to that. Nobody thinks for me. I think for me.

“But when Marcellus said what he said, it was a disappointment because you’re hurting us when you say that, not me. I’ve accomplished enough that my intelligence is respected. But what about those that have not accomplished what I have or haven’t had an opportunity to really expose the level of intellect they possess?” 

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