Dan Le Batard had a bone to pick with Stephen A. Smith and he told him right to his face.

Smith joined the latest episode of Le Batard’s podcast, South Beach Sessions. The topic would soon come up about Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless, which prompted Le Batard to take a brutal shot.

Dan Le Batard addresses Stephen A. Smith-Skip Bayless take

“I hate what you two have done to sports television,” Le Batard said.

“It’s not that it’s ignored; it’s that the journalism becomes less important. It’s the argument. It’s the sparks; it’s the debate that needs to be carried,” Le Batard said.

Smith fired back.

 

“You can say that all you want to, I would say who the hell are you!” Smith responded. “To sit up there and say, me and him. What about you? Where the hell were you? Living under a rock? Teaching at Miami U? You were a part of it too! You ain’t innocent!”

“How are we responsible for that?” Smith added. “When our background is [in journalism]. Skip Bayless was a journalist for decades! I was a journalist for decades! We come on television and those ethics are applicable…When did it occur in my career that I ignored the journalistic tenets that came with the job?”

Skip Bayless has been gone from ESPN for several years and First Take has remained the top show at the network.

On Fox, Skip Bayless’ spinoff of the show, Undisputed, is enjoying similar success.