Stephen A. Smith hasn't shied away from criticizing Ben Roethlisberger in recent years.
After the latest Antonio Brown drama, however, in which Roethlisberger expressed regret in publicly criticizing Brown's play and ruining their friendship, and Brown responded by saying he was "never friends" with Roethlisberger, Smith seems to be changing his tune a little.
Smith addressed the subject in ESPN's First Take on Wednesday.
"I take no pleasure in saying this, because I personally like Antonio Brown," Smith began. “But he looks worse and worse with each passing day. Because the things that he has done is indicative of an individual who has taken ‘divaness’, for lack of a better word, to another level. This is what he has been doing.
"Excuse me, JuJu Smith-Schuster didn't say anything about him. You saw how he went at JuJu Smith-Schuster. He goes at anybody that remotely disagrees with him in this particular day and age. He is about himself and that is what he has proven to be.
"I am not trying to absolve Big Ben Roethlisberger by any stretch of the imagination," Smith clarified. "I was the guy who spoke to Antonio Brown months ago. I was the guy who went on national television and talked about how Big Ben Roethlisberger is not faultless in any of this. I recognize the fact that there are things that Big Ben Roethlisberger could have done better. They are both at fault.
"But when the question is asked, 'Who is looking worse?', think about the quote that Antonio Brown put out there. 'NEVER friends. Just trying to get my ends.' In other words, you don't mind perpetrating a fraud, acting like you're something that you're not, just to get to your ultimate goal. So, I might pretend to be cool with you. I might pretend to be your friend. I might pretend to be vibing with you and getting along with you, but in reality, I don't really like you, I'm just trying to get paid."
Max Kellerman, another analyst on the show, defended Brown's actions, saying that the fact Brown later deleted the tweet means that he "thought better of it."
The two went back-and-forth about Brown for over seven minutes. The full segment can be seen here:
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