Stephen A. Smith has come to Nia Long‘s defense after her ex Ime Udoka addressed his cheating affair for the first time, but failing to publicly apologize to the actress. Smith had taken to his Know Mercy Podcast to touch on Udoka’s recent comments while sharing his thoughts on the matter – and it goes without saying that he wasn’t impressed by anything the basketball coach had to say seeing that he seemingly failed to take accountability.
“Can I ask all the ladies out there, and all the men out there something?” Smith said. “What about the sister… the black woman named Nia Long that was thrown to the wolves byu having all of this publicized. Did she deserve that?
View this post on Instagram
“This beautiful, gorgeous, smart, intelligent, accomplished woman, a sensational actress, crossing all lines and barriers. Even if they’re no together, that is the father of her child. If you mention him, and another woman, inevitably, she’s going to come up.
“How come nobody thought about the sister?”
Long, who came across the Instagram post, reacted by thanking Smith for his support, adding a quote from Malcolm X that read, “The most disrespected woman in America is the black woman.” She continued, “Thank you for your support.”
Earlier this week, Udoka, who is now the basketball coach of the Houston Rockets said at a press conference earlier this week, “They’ve done due diligence on who I am as a person.”
“I released a statement months ago when everything happened and apologized to a lot of people for the tough position I put them in, and I stand by that. I feel much more remorse even now towards that,” he explained. “I spent this last offseason working on myself in a lot of different ways, improving in areas. It was a chance to sit back and reflect and grow. I think that will make me a better coach and a better leader.”
“My part in it was to take accountability and ownership of my part,” he said. “[The Celtics] had a choice to make a decision and they went that route. My thing was to own up to it, take responsibility and serve the suspension. I had to own it, honestly.”