Kenny Smith Walks Off ‘NBA On TNT’ Set In Solidarity With Players Boycotting Games
Aug 26, 2020, 5:06 PM | Updated: Apr 18, 2021, 5:17 pm
Kenny Smith poses in the press room during the 2019 NBA Awards presented by Kia on TNT at Barker Hangar on June 24, 2019 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Turner Sports)
(Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Turner Sports)
ATLANTA, Ga. – NBA analyst Kenny “The Jet” Smith walked off the Inside the NBA set in solidarity with the NBA players that boycotted games on Wednesday.
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Smith decided to not participate in Inside the NBA in order to stand with the players.
“Right now, my head is about to explode,” Smith said in the opening segment. “Just in the thoughts of what’s going on. I don’t know if I am even appropriate enough to say it, what the players are feeling and how they are feeling. I haven’t talked to any of the players. Even driving here, getting into the studio, hearing calls and people talking. And for me, I think the biggest thing now as a Black man, as a former player, I think it’s best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight.”
After Smith unplugged his microphone and set it down on the studio desk, he said “and figure out what happens after that. I just don’t feel equipped to do it.”
As Smith was walking off the set, host Ernie Johnson told Smith that he respected his decision.
.@TheJetOnTNT stands with the NBA players. pic.twitter.com/39Sby1D5kn
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) August 26, 2020
Earlier on Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted their Game 5 Playoff matchup with the Orlando Magic is reportedly due to the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday evening when police officers fired seven shots at Jacob Blake, a black man.
The NBA postponed all three games on Wednesday.
The other two NBA Playoff game scheduled for Wednesday are being boycotted. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets will not play their Game 5 matchup and the same with the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers.
The Jazz and Nuggets are scheduled to play Game 6 on Thursday at 2 p.m. Still no word on whether the game will be played or not at the time of this story.
Jacob Blake
On Sunday evening in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Jacob Blake went around the front of a gray SUV with two police officers following behind him. When Blake entered the driver side of the car and opened the door, video shows the nearest officer grabbing Blake’s tank top and seven shots were fired. According to Blake’s attorney, his three children were in the car.
Blake was taken to the hospital where he is currently in stable condition in an intensive care unit, according to his attorney.
Blake was allegedly breaking up a fight between two women that had the police called to the home where Blake was at when he was shot.
