Stephen A Smith misses his close friend and former First Take host, Molly Qerim, dearly. The sports commentator expressed his profound feelings on Cam Newton's show Funky Friday. If you watch ESPN's flagship program, you probably know that Shae Cornette is the new moderator.
She's been running things really well for the last couple of months or so and Stephen A Smith has zero complaints. He tells Cam, "[She] is outstanding. She is thorough as hell... and I'm proud to have her."
But while he values her expertise and hosting abilities, he's more so talking about Molly through a more personal lense. "She and I are friends," Smith explains. "I miss her, I got a lot of love for her, [and] she's very near and dear to me."
He continues, "Over the last few years she's confided in me a lot. Trusted me with a lot of things and our friendship only grew. I miss her. I miss her a lot and that's no shade at Shae... But I'm getting to know Shae 'cause I didn't know Shae. But I've known Molly now for over 11 years..."
Stephen A adds that he doesn't have the time to just pick up the phone and call her due to his schedule. But he says that she knows that she can always call him for anything and that he's never going to break off their friendship.
Was Molly Qerim Fired From ESPN?
He concludes by wishing her well in her other ventures and health wise as he says that she's battling endometriosis. Folks in the comments of joebuddenclips' repost don't feel Smith is/has been a good friend to Molly, though.
Some feel he had all the power in the world to keep her at ESPN. However, Molly wasn't fired or forced out by the higher ups nor Smith. Instead, Molly decided to resign late last year over a contract dispute.
The Straight Shooter host confirmed this himself on his self-titled program. "Last night, she abruptly resigned as the host of the show," Smith said back then. "And to say that I'm quite sad about it is an understatement. Molly is a friend, Molly is a co-worker. Molly is somebody that I have leaned on on many occasions in the past, as she has done when it comes to me. We have been partners on the show for the last 10 years. A lot of times some of these things happen, and it's just uncomfortable to see..."
Additionally, some are still running with the rumor that they were secretly an item even when Molly was married to Jalen Rose. Rumors like these will never truly go away, even though Smith has denied in the past that there was anything going on like that between them.
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