Stephen A. Smith got booed at Madison Square Garden, then apologized to Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart during a live Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart podcast on Friday night. The secret-guest appearance turned into a public reset after Smith’s past criticism of Brunson and the Knicks drew the crowd’s reaction.
Josh Hart pressed him directly as the golden trophy sat to his right: “We are now sitting here with this golden trophy there to your right. Can you sit here and admit you were wrong?” Smith answered in full, saying, “I’m a grown-ass man. I was beyond wrong. I’m apologizing to this brother on national television; I’m apologizing to you; I’m apologizing to the entire Knicks organization. Let me be very, very clear: I have never been more happy to be wrong in my life.”
Madison Square Garden Booed Smith
The crowd made its stance clear the moment Smith appeared. Hart looked at the noise and asked, “Are they saying ‘Deuce?’” Smith tried to cut through it with, “Boos are cheers.”
The live taping took place at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden and was simulcast on. It came one day after the Knicks’ ticker-tape parade in Lower Manhattan, when an estimated two million people flooded the streets after the team’s first NBA title in 53 years.
Stephen A. Smith Revisits 2016 And 2022
Smith’s apology reached back to two old flash points. He said, “I came out of the womb a Knicks fan,” then apologized for saying after Villanova won the 2016 NCAA Men’s National Championship that “Villanova doesn’t have a real NBA prospect on this squad,” and for criticizing the Knicks’ 2022 decision to sign Brunson.
The event was built as more than a podcast taping. All proceeds from the sell-out show benefited the Garden of Dreams Foundation, and the guest list stretched beyond the three hosts with Karl-Anthony Towns, Miles “Deuce” McBride, Carmelo Anthony, Ali Brunson, Shannon Hart and Samara Hillman joining the night.
Smith left the stage with the apology said out loud and the crowd still on him, which was the point: this was not a quiet make-good, but a public correction in front of the same fans who had been booing him through the whole appearance.
