The former First Take partners reunited on Smith’s SiriusXM show, where Bayless corroborated Smith’s version of the 2012 moderator search and announced a recurring schedule
Skip Bayless appeared on The Stephen A. Smith Show today (September 11), for the first time since their First Take partnership ended a decade ago. The 30-minute conversation opened with a reunion and a programming announcement: Bayless will join Smith every Friday on SiriusXM and return to First Take on the last Friday of every month. The conversation then turned to the Cari Champion hiring dispute that has circulated for months.
Smith asked one question directly: “Did I lie about anything that I said in regards to Cari Champion at ESPN on First Take?” Bayless answered no. He then supplied background about the 2012 moderator search, confirming Smith’s account that producer Jamie Horowitz sent Smith to convince Bayless to sign off on Champion’s hiring.
The Hiring Dispute
The exchange stems from Stephen A.’s appearance on Champion and Jemele Hill’s Flagrant and Funny podcast, a week ago. In that conversation, Smith said Bayless had not wanted to hire Champion and that Smith had to convince him. Champion replied that Smith had not wanted her either. She called Smith a liar and read her own text history on air to show she had not asked for the moderator seat.
Skip Bayless’s account on Smith’s show walked through the process. Bayless said he and Stephen A. spoke the night before Smith sat with Champion and Hill, and again soon after. Then, he described the 2012 moderator search under Horowitz, who wanted a female moderator to replace Jay Crawford. They auditioned roughly 20 candidates after shows with dummy topics and were asked for a blind top-three vote. However, Champion was not among those auditioned. Instead, the choice came suddenly.
Bayless said he was “iffy” because of background information that had been scrubbed. Horowitz sent Smith to speak with Bayless because Horowitz knew Smith supported her. Bayless then spoke with Champion for an hour and agreed. Smith clarified on air that he never claimed he hired her. He said he had to go to Bayless to convince him to sign off, and that was how she got the job. Bayless confirmed the sequence if events. He gave the last word, noting the events were long ago, that both sides had differing views, and that he had enjoyed working with her and wished her and Hill well.
Reuniting Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith
Smith opened by introducing Bayless as his former First Take partner. He noted years of morning sparring and future debates. The programming announcement followed: Bayless would appear with him every Friday on the SiriusXM show and, starting the following week, on the last Friday of every month on ESPN’s First Take. Smith called it a “beatdown” coming for listeners.
Bayless responded with affection and pride in what Smith had done with First Take after Bayless left ESPN for FS1 in 2016. He said a one-off reunion months earlier had been “the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time.” Smith joked that Bayless had never beaten him in a debate.
Bayless plugged his rebooted Grid Iron show with Aqib Talib, now on a new YouTube channel at 12:30 p.m. ET Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. He described Talib as an elite former corner and “the greatest cusser I’ve ever known.” Smith praised Talib’s credentials and noted it takes specific stature to work opposite Bayless.
Debating Football Like Old Times
The conversation shifted to NFL topics. On the Rams’ loss to the 49ers in Melbourne, Bayless cited the 20-hour travel and arrival only 28 hours before kickoff. He still picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl, praising Sean McVay and calling the 49ers old and vulnerable longer-term.
On the Cowboys, Bayless admitted he had been a “delusional” fan after last year’s hype. He predicted 9-8, citing a poor defense and new coordinator Christian Parker. He rejected Super Bowl talk. Smith called the take soft and accused Bayless of hedging. Smith expected the Cowboys to win the NFC East and finish as a top-three team. They discussed the Eagles and Howie Roseman’s drafting.
In the NFC North, they discussed Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago with Caleb Williams, and Minnesota. Bayless picked the Vikings with Kyler Murray. On the AFC, Smith picked the Broncos and Bo Nix. Bayless was skeptical of Nix and picked the Bills and Josh Allen. On which quarterback faces the most pressure to reach a Super Bowl, Smith listed Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Dak Prescott. Bayless picked Lamar Jackson for legacy reasons.
X Responds to Stephen A.’s Receipts on Cari Champion
High-engagement posts framed the segment as confirmation that Smith’s account of having to convince Bayless was accurate. One widely circulated clip quoted Bayless agreeing he had been “iffy” because of scrubbed background material and that Horowitz sent Smith to get his sign-off.
Sentiment among visible posts leaned toward viewing the appearance as Smith producing a firsthand witness. Comments included lines such as “Cari Champion done messed up,” “Stephen A. bringing the receipts,” “Skip validated SAS,” and “Cari punching the air.” Some users treated it as a “reverse Uno” after Champion’s podcast. A smaller set of comments said that Jamie Horowitz and other executives drove the search and that neither Smith nor Bayless was the sole decision-maker.
Celebration of the two men being back together appeared alongside the dispute clips. “The OGs,” “dynamic duo,” and “glad we’re going to see y’all every Friday” were common phrases. Because the video dropped today, reaction volume is still building. The most-liked posts centered on the confirmation clip rather than the football debate.
What All of This Means
The appearance functioned as both a personnel announcement and a public corroboration. Smith used the first available high-profile platform with Bayless to put the hiring question directly to the person he had named as the decision-maker. Bayless’s confirmation aligns with the version Smith had given. It does not resolve whether Smith’s broader public phrasing overstated or understated Champion’s independent credentials and earlier work.
The programming announcement returns Bayless to ESPN on a limited but recurring basis a decade after he left. For ESPN it adds a familiar debate voice after recent First Take departures. For Bayless it provides national television exposure without a full-time daily commitment. For Smith it publicly ties his current platform back to the person he has repeatedly credited with launching it.
In sports-media terms, the segment illustrates how former colleagues now settle historical credit disputes in public. Football debate content follows their established pattern of strong, quickly stated positions that invite disagreement. Potential consequences include continued public response from Champion or Hill, further clips circulating as “receipts,” and audience expectation that Friday Smith–Bayless hours will mix nostalgia with current NFL argument.
Final Thoughts
The world originally fell in love with Stephen A. Smith’s commentary when he and Skip Bayless argued every day. During the infancy of viral clips, Stephen A.’s rants drove the discourse. As a result, ESPN wasted no time making him the face of their network. With that, Stephen A. got chances to expand his personal brand into radio deals via SiriusXM, his own podcast, guest appearances on other platforms, and other opportunities within Disney.
With such a large platform, Stephen A. dived into other topics. Because controversy has been his brand, his commentary on other topics, namely politics, were equally controversial. All of this led to Stephen A. receiving much backlash from the black community, culminating in his face-off with Cari Champion. For viewers, there was a level of surprise that Stephen A. went as far as getting Skip Bayless on his podcast to confirm his version of the story. But those who know Stephen A. know how far he’ll go.
Ultimately, Stephen A. Smith is a sports analyst at his core and he’s returned to his roots with this Skip Bayless reunion.
