ESPN's Stephen A. Smith fires back on criticism of sports debate TV: 'You ain't innocent'

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ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith got into a back-and-forth with Dan Le Batard last week while on Le Batard’s "South Beach Sessions" podcast. 

When discussing Fox Sports personality Skip Bayless, Smith’s former co-host at ESPN, Le Batard said he hated "what you two have done for sports television."

TV personality Stephen A. Smith is seen leaving Fox 29's "Good Day" at FOX 29 Studios after promoting his book "Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes" Jan. 19, 2023, in Philadelphia. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)

Le Batard said he was referencing all the "imitators" who have come after Smith and Bayless who don’t have the "journalism credentials." 

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Smith, who has perfected the debate-style sports show, pushed back, pointing to his long career as a journalist while saying Le Batard should not be one to talk. 

"You can say that all you want to," Smith responded. "I would say, ‘Who the hell are you to sit up there and say me and him?’ What about you? Where the hell were you? Living under a rock? Teaching at Miami U? You were part of it, too. You ain’t innocent.

TV personality Stephen A. Smith speaks on radio row ahead of Super Bowl LVII at the Phoenix Convention Center Feb. 9, 2023, in Phoenix, Ariz.  (Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

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"Those people who don’t have a journalism background, who don’t exercise journalistic ethics and beyond, how are we responsible for that when our background is based on that? Skip Bayless was a journalist for decades. I was a journalist for