Stephen A. Smith is asking Jemele Hill and Cari Champion to release the full video of his three-hour appearance on their Flagrant & Funny podcast after portions of the conversation were mistakenly left out of the video version.
Smith addressed the situation in a roughly 30-minute episode of his Straight Shooter series posted Sunday (September 6).
“I sat down for three hours, three hours with these two ladies,” Smith said, adding that he told them, “I’m here for the evening for as long as you need me.”
The video version of the interview ultimately ran about two hours and 38 minutes. Smith said he had specifically requested that the three-hour interview be released without edits and believed his team had been assured that would happen.
“I wanted everybody to see every word that was uttered,” he said. “That didn’t happen.”
He called for the complete video to be released, the comments reopened and a copy of the interview provided to him.
“I want that interview in its entirety put up for everybody to see,” Smith said.
Smith also read an explanation from Hill and Champion’s team saying the audio version was unedited and that a producer accidentally left part of the conversation out during the video export.
Smith acknowledged the explanation, saying, “I believe them when they say that.”
In his video, he also addressed the threats and abusive comments directed at Hill and Champion after their interview, saying, “These are our sisters. Chill the hell out. Don’t be threatening them.”
Smith, however, questioned whether the continued discussion of the interview could lead to threats against him as well. “What if you talking about it reversed it and then it turned to me getting threats? Is that OK with you?” he asked.
Smith also expressed frustration over Champion’s comments following the interview about whether his appearance benefited the podcast. He pointed to the show’s growth following his appearance.
“Once I sat down with them, they’ve picked up over 30,000 subscribers. They’ve had over a million views, 500,000 over YouTube,” he claimed.
“A simple thank you would have sufficed,” Smith added.
Champion later responded to Smith in an Instagram Story, thanking him for appearing on the podcast.
“Stephen A., thanks for coming on Flagrant and Funny,” she said in the video, per Awful Announcing. “You’re right. I should have said thank you. I am now realizing every one of my words will be policed, and I thank you. I’m not even speaking for Jemele Hill. I’m speaking for me. Thanks for coming on Flagrant and Funny. Really, honestly, appreciate it.”
Hill separately responded on X Monday (September 8), saying the full interview has been available in audio through iHeart and other podcast platforms from the beginning.
Hill said she and Champion had nothing to do with the video editing and that an editing mistake caused the missing footage. She also said Smith’s team had already been informed about what happened and given a transcript.
“Nothing nefarious occurred,” Hill wrote. She added that the approximately 20 minutes allegedly missing from the video is “ALL there in the audio version.”
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