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Stephen A. Smith claps back, calls Drake Maye a ‘liar’ over Cam Newton comments
"Don't tell me that you're an athlete and you don't know that Cam Newton is on this show. You're lying."
Drake Maye’s response to Cam Newton’s comments about the Patriots looking like “fools gold” seems to have struck a nerve at ESPN.
During a recent appearance on WEEI, Maye said he didn’t know what show Newton was on, adding that he was more worried about what goes on within the Patriots’ organization than what people on TV have to say.
On Thursday morning, Stephen A. Smith responded to Maye during “First Take,” the show on which Newton made his comments. Ryan Clark was praising Maye for his dynamic play-style and talking about how he believed the Patriots had enough talent to make the AFC championship when Smith jumped in.
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“He’s also a liar. First of all, let me tell you. Not to brag. Listen,” Smith said. “Pardon the Interruption is the No. 1 show on ESPN spanning twenty-plus [years]. First Take is the No. 1 morning show 13 years and counting, April will be 14 years.”
“Don’t tell me you’re an athlete and you don’t know that,” Smith continued. “Don’t tell me that you’re an athlete and you don’t know that Cam Newton is on this show. You’re lying.”
Newton is a fairly recent addition to the show, having joined ESPN last October. The former NFL MVP was playing quarterback for Maye’s hometown Carolina Panthers as recently as 2021. He was with the Patriots in 2020.
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Maye has said on numerous occasions that he was a fan of Newton’s growing up. He’s from Huntersville, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. Newton won MVP and took the Panthers to the Super Bowl on February 7th, 2016, when Maye was 13.
“I was sitting on my home couch, big Panthers fan from Charlotte. All we wanted was to draft Cam and it came true,” Maye said on the night the Patriots drafted him. “Had season tickets ever since and he’s my MVP.”
Smith also accused WEEI of misquoting Newton and taking his words out of context.
WEEI’s Andy Hart asked: “Cam Newton said the Patriots are fools gold, that was his words, not mine. Do you hear those things, do you react to those things? Any comment on that.”
Smith said: “What are we looking for? What do we want to do? The media offers professional athletes opportunities for the most part that corporate America ain’t doing. But, a professional athlete performing because he’s in his feelings because comebody might have critiqued him or some weak a** reporter or pundit on the radio is going to ask the question out of context.”
Maye said that everyone is entitled to their opinion and that his focus was on helping the Patriots win.
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