Did Stephen A. Smith drop an N-bomb on ESPN First Take?

During a discussion about Kobe Bryant’s foot injury on ESPN First Take Thursday morning, Stephen A. Smith said something that has the internet buzzing. It wasn’t completely audible so we cannot say for sure, but it certainly sounded like Stephen A. said “n**ga please” in the middle of one of his rants.

The video was called to our attention by The Big Lead, and they are unsure of what they heard as well. We’ve seen him flip the bird during discussions on TV before, so you can’t completely rule out that Stephen A. had a slip of the tongue. It’s also not the first time he has been accused of using the “N” word on TV.

As expected, Smith tried to explain the incident later on Thursday during another television appearance. Rather than apologizing or giving an explanation of what he actually did say, Stephen A. simply said he speaks too quickly and that results in people like us hearing things.

ESPN has apparently accepted the explanation and will not discipline Smith in any way. That would seem to indicate that they believe he did not drop an N-bomb, but The Big Lead pointed out that they scrubbed the word out when First Take was aired again later in the day. Can anyone explain that?

For whatever reason, Smith is allowed to get away with doing and say inappropriate stuff while other ESPN employees are fired for writing things like this about Jeremy Lin.

Video via @c gar

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