Stephen A. Smith Says He Regrets Viral Kwame Brown Rant

The ESPN personality admitted when he gave the rant, he didn’t know there would be memes and videos still made about it 15 years later.

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith is known for his often controversial takes on sports news. But, does he regret any of the takes he’s given over the years?

Clippers star Paul George asked this very question when Smith joined his Podcast P show this week, and Smith quickly knew the answer. One of the videos that continues to come up is his infamous rant about the Lakers trading Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol.

“Kwame Brown, I wish I could do that over, I wouldn’t do it,” Smith said. “I know what I said. I did mean it. I ain’t going to sit here and tell you I ain’t mean the s--- I said, but I didn’t know it was gonna be like this. Remember, I said it before Twitter, Facebook. I didn’t know, 15 years later, they gonna have memes, videos. When I see what he says, I realize how hurt he is.”

“I wish I could do that over. I wouldn’t do it.”

Stephen A. would take back his rant on Kwame Brown 🫡

(via @PodcastPShow)

pic.twitter.com/08y3LFEclx

— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) August 15, 2023

In Smith’s rant about Brown, the ESPN star explained all the reasons he thinks the former NBA player is a “scrub” and how the city of Los Angeles should be celebrating him leaving in the trade for Gasol. Here’s the original clip.

Even 15 years later, this rant still gets traction on social media, but it sounds like Smith would rather have that not be the case.