Stephen A. Smith went completely speechless on ESPN First Take for one of the first times in his life, and the reason was Caitlin Clark. For once, the popular ESPN host had nothing left to say when Monica McNutt clearly showed that he is part of the problem.

Caitlin Clark is changing WNBA coverage

Following the incident between Clark and Chennedy Carter in the Indiana Fever vs Chicago Sky game on Saturday, ESPN’s First Take spent 40 uninterrupted minutes discussing Clark and the way she has changed how people talk about the WNBA.

Speaking on the dialogue since Clark entered the league, Smith expressed, “now we gotta sit up here and watch every syllable. I resent that.”

“Welcome to the world of being a woman,” responded McNutt, a former college basketball player and current analyst for ESPN. “You have to dance about your word choice and please anybody and everybody.”

“How about being a black man?” he fired back, bringing up the identity politics that have dominated the discourse surrounding Clark and Carter’s interaction.

Stephen A. Smith called out: what did Monica McNutt say?

Stephen A. began to show frustration, and tried to get in the last word before Molly Qerim could finally take the show to break.

“Who talks about the WNBA, who talks about women’s sports more than First Take?” Smith asked McNutt, setting himself up for the ultimate burn.

“Respectfully, with your platform, you could have been doing this three years ago if you wanted to,” McNutt said, undermining the experience and expertise of ESPN’s well-paid show pony.

The remark put him in the same category as new WNBA fans who have been blamed for stirring so much drama without understanding the history of the league. Smith had no defense.

By the time they mercifully went to break, all he could do was shake his head, as a stunned silence fell over the show, and the clip was entered into the never-ending archive of viral moments caused by Number 22.