Stephen A. Smith Reacts To Sexual Battery Suit Against Ex-ESPN Colleague Skip Bayless
Stephen A. Smith says he’s “heartbroken” that former ESPN colleague Skip Bayless is facing a workplace misconduct lawsuit accusing him and others of sexual battery, among other allegations.
“His vice is a Diet Mountain Dew, and he doesn’t socialize with people,” Smith said on Monday’s episode of his “Stephen A. Smith Show” podcast. “That’s the guy I know. So imagining him being in this kind of position is shocking, to say the least. All I could tell you is that it’s not the Skip Bayless I know.”
The suit was filed Friday in Los Angeles by Noushin Faraji, who’d worked as a hairstylist at Fox Sports during Bayless’ tenure there. Faraji alleged that he made repeated sexual advances toward her beginning in 2017, including “lingering hugs,” “kisses on the cheek” and pressing against her. She also accused him of offering her $1.5 million for sex in 2021, and said he threatened her job after she refused.
“I can’t imagine it,” Smith said as he reflected on the accusations. “The Skip Bayless I know has a hard time giving away $15. He’s one of the cheapest people I know. That’s just me, but that doesn’t mean that I have any inside knowledge about any of this.”
Smith and Bayless worked together as sports analysts on ESPN’s “First Take” from 2012 to 2016, before Bayless left for Fox Sports 1. There, he helped lead the show “Undisputed” until announcing his exit from the network last year.
In addition to Bayless, Faraji’s suit names his former Fox Sports 1 colleague Joy Taylor, the Fox Corp. and network executive Charlie Dixon, with allegations including negligent supervision, hiring and retention; retaliation; and creating a hostile work environment in the period from 2012 to 2024, the year she said she was fired. Faraji said that the reasons behind her dismissal were “fabricated.”
News of the suit was first reported by Front Office Sports, which received a statement from Fox Sports saying, “We take these allegations seriously and have no further comment at this time given this pending litigation.”
HuffPost has reached out to Bayless for comment.
On his podcast, Smith said he doesn’t know Faraji personally, but that in the last 24 hours he’d spoken to people who possessed “some knowledge about her” and told him that she’s “meticulous with her details.”
“I don’t know them; I know Skip,” he added. “I’m very, very heartbroken that he finds himself in this situation, being accused of these allegations. But I can’t be over the airwaves being irresponsible and attaching truth or ... guilt to anything that I know nothing about.”
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
