Stephen A. Smith faces scathing backlash from fans over LeBron James' podcast claim: "Race baiting at it's finest"

While on "First Take" Monday, Stephen A. Smith made some interesting comments regarding LeBron James and his new podcast. Following his remarks, NBA fans clapped back at the longtime analyst for how he framed things.

Smith touched on LeBron, who is Black, starting his "Mind the Game" podcast with JJ Redick, who is white, earlier this year. He said that numerous African American coaches around the league did not agree with the venture.

"Numerous coaches, Black coaches, called me," Smith said, "expressing how they took issue with that podcast taking place."

As the clip made rounds on social media, fans began chiming in on Stephen A. Smith's remark regarding LeBron James and JJ Redick's podcast. Some called for him to be taken off the air for adding racial undertones to the narrative.

Other fans wondered why something like this is even a story, saying that ESPN should be covering the NBA Finals.

"HOLY S*** STFU UP ABOUT THIS, THE GODDAMN FINALS IS ON AND UR HERE YAPPING ABOUT BRON AND THE LAKERS," one fan tweeted.

"The nba finals going on and we talking about this?" another fan posted.

"The NBA finals are on bro… this is embarrassing," one wrote.

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Stephen A. Smith has been called out for similar narratives in the past

Fans responded to Stephen A. Smith's segment because this is not his first time doing something like this. In fact, another analyst called him out in the past for his coverage of players of different races.

In February, Jason Whitlock broke down how Smith covered some notable offensive performances this season.

When Joel Embiid scored 70 points against the San Antonio Spurs, Smith raved about how special of a talent he is. However, he sang a different tune when Luka Doncic scored 73 points just a few nights later. Following Doncic's 73-point eruption against the Atlanta Hawks, Stephen A. Smith bashed Atlanta for not trying at all on the defensive end.

This led to Whitlock clapping back at the ESPN host for having a double standard.

"Stephen A.’s contradictory messages here can only be defined and described in one way accurately: racist," Whitlock said. "He’s got a racist double-standard, and many people in the league, because the NBA is a Black-dominated league, they share that view."

Between situations like this and his comments on "First Take" Monday, fans will continue to call him out for breaking race into sports debates.