Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith bore a “My name is” sticker with his name written on it for Shannon Sharpe, a new First Take co-host, who repeatedly called the sports guru by the wrong name.
On Monday (Sept. 5), Smith, Sharpe and First Take Molly Querim discussed the Kansas City Chiefs’ chances against the Detroit Lions sans defensive tackle Chris Jones.
Asked if he thought the Chiefs were on “upset alert” (when an underdog team defeats a more popular team) without Jones, Sharpe concurred and directed his response to Smith, calling him by his former Undisputed co-host’s name, Skip Bayless.
“Yeah, because if you think about it, the Lions will pick to win that division, Skip—”
Smith assured him everything was fine despite his mishap. But it happened again while discussing the Lions’ chances against the Super Bowl champs with the same offensive pieces.
“And you know what, Skip—”
Again, Smith affirmed it was okay.
Tuesday’s (Sept. 5) First Take episode was Sharpe’s second day on the job. Smith decided to address Sharpe’s mistake and help him remember the iconic name.
“You can call it day two, but it’s really day one because the full two-hour show with me and the man, Shannon Sharpe,” Smith began at the show’s beginning. “I know it was a hiccup yesterday, Shannon.”
A confused Sharpe asked what happened, and Smith responded, “‘Cause you called me something other than Stephen A., but I got a solution to the problem.”
Smith slapped on a “Hello, my name is Stephen A.” sticker, causing Sharpe to laugh.
“There we go! What’s up, y’all? My name is Stephen A. What’s up, baby?”
Sharpe laughed and turned to Molly to correct her last name, “And you are Molly Querim.”
“Yes! You said it right. Day two,” Querim responded.
Sharpe agreed it took a while for him to correct her last name, and Querim clapped back that he was still learning.
Sharpe disembarked his Undisputed co-hosting duties in June 2023.
