“All respect gone” - Stephen Jackson wants to "slap the s**t outta" Skip Bayless for insensitive tweet regarding Damar Hamlin
Skip Bayless, Stephen Jackson
© Nicole Sweet-USA TODAY Sports
NFL player Damar Hamlin collapsed during the Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals matchup on Monday. While many media personalities were praying for the Bills' safety's well-being, controversial host Skip Bayless drew the wrath of Twitter and sports communities for seemingly being more concerned about how the game would be postponed than Hamlin's condition.
Retired NBA player Stephen Jackson blasted Bayless for the insensitive remarks, saying he has lost all respect for the 71-year-old TV personality.
The significance of the game
The Monday Night Football game wasn't an ordinary one because it had major playoff implications. Both the Bills and Bengals have already qualified for the 2022-23 NFL playoffs. However, they were still fighting for higher seeds.
Buffalo was still in the hunt for the top seed in its conference, and it needed a win on Monday for a chance to claim the spot—in the NFL playoffs, a conference's No. 1 seed receives a bye in the first round of the postseason.
On the other hand, Cincinnati still had chances, albeit small, of wresting its conference's top seed. But it would need to win two straight games to maintain those chances. Making things more interesting is that the Bengals needed to win at least one of their remaining two contests to clinch their division and earn home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
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The combination of the gravity of Hamlin's situation and the heavy playoff implications of the game's outcome likely had Bayless thrown for a loop. Even so, it would have been better for the sports analyst to have focused his thought and tweet on the 24-year-old's recovery.
Skip tried arresting the situation by clarifying his point in a separate post. But at that point, the damage had already been done.
Other reactions to Bayless' tweet
Given how delicate the matter is, it's understandable for Jackson to lose his cool and come after Bayless. Even other NBA personalities chimed in and tried to put Skip in his place.
Veteran point guard Isaiah Thomas, who is still looking to sign with an NBA team this season, called for the host to be fired from Fox Sports 1, where he stars in "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed."
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard also caught wind of the tweet and could only offer a three-letter response.
Fellow analyst and commentator Kendrick Perkins expressed his disgust with his colleague, providing Bayless with some "real talk."
Will Bayless find himself without a platform after he wakes up? Probably not. But hopefully, he has learned his lesson to think twice before letting out poorly timed or poorly worded tweets.
