Stephen A. Smith has publicly apologized to Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert after falsely claiming on his podcast that she walked away from their divorce with $25 million, properties, and luxury assets while he was left with about $2 million and nowhere to live.
In a video posted to his YouTube channel over the weekend, Smith admitted those statements were inaccurate. He said he spoke directly with Taylor, who confirmed the circulating information was false, and that Straight Shooter Media failed to properly source it. The episode has been taken down.
"In the interest of fairness, accuracy, and decency, I believe it's important to address what happened in an October episode of The Culture Table titled, 'Can Men Trust Women With Their Finances?'" Smith said. "During that episode, I stated that Teyana Taylor walked away from her divorce with $25 million, $10 million in properties, luxury cars, and other assets, while Iman Shumpert, her ex-husband, was left with approximately $2 million and nowhere to live. Those statements were inaccurate, and I want to sincerely apologize to both Iman Shumpert and Teyana Taylor."
Smith said the quotes attributed to Shumpert that he repeated on the show were never actually his. "The quotes attributed to him, however, were not his statements at all, and the financial figures presented were inaccurate," he said. "I know this for a fact because I personally spoke to Teyana Taylor, who verified herself that the information circulating out there is patently false."
"Straight Shooter Media and I, as the CEO, have a responsibility to ensure that information presented is properly sourced," Smith said. "We didn't meet that standard here. Plain and simple."
Stephen A. Smith issued the apology in a video posted to his YouTube channel over the weekend.
By now he should know to verify before he talks. This is his second public apology in a single week. Days earlier, Smith had to apologize for mocking Eagles lineman Lane Johnson's retirement, which Johnson said was about prioritizing his mental health. Smith apologized first on his YouTube channel and again on First Take the next morning: "I messed up. I was wrong."
He already had to apologize to Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett back in October 2025 for running with unfiltered criticism of her rhetoric, calling it "street verbiage" and "rhetoric for the streets." He walked that back too, saying he didn't want to give President Trump "fodder" to attack her.
At this point it just looks like he believes whatever people put in front of him and deals with the cleanup later. The apology video stays up, he says, because "addressing what happened openly is what's important here." Fair enough. But the pattern is becoming the story.
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