ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Embarrassingly Name Drops Cameroonian UFC Fighter Francis Ngannou While Apologizing To Nigerian Basketball Team

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  • Members of the Nigerian basketball team called out Stephen A. Smith for mispronouncing their names during a segment on ‘First Take’
  • Smith apologized to the Nigerian basketball team but unfortunately name dropped a bunch of UFC fighters including Cameroonian born Francis Ngannou.
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Stephen A. Smith is having a rough week at ESPN.

Not only did Stephen A. receive intense backlash after making some incendiary remarks about MLB All-Star Shohei Ohtani on Monday but he also drew the ire of the Internet for mispronouncing the names of players on the Nigerian basketball team while mocking Team USA.

“There’s no excuse to lose to Nigeria… [To lose to] some dude Gabe Nnamdi, who goes by Gabe Vincent and plays for the Miami Heat. Or Caleb Agada. Or Nma… however the hell you pronounce his name,” “You give up 60 points on 3’s? Excuse me, you can do better than that.”

On Tuesday, Smith apologized to the Nigerian basketball team but unfortunately, he mistakenly name dropped UFC fighter Francis Ngannou as a Nigerian he respects which is an issue considering Ngannou is Cameroonian.

“I also don’t want to escape on a different note the Nigerians as well because the Nigerian team that beat team USA when I didn’t pronounce someone’s name apparently they took offense to that and I’m a guy who’s a huge fan of Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, Usman…I love that brother the Nigerian nightmare…and to listen to them over the years highlight what they’ve had to endure to achieve what they’ve achieved in this nation and throughout the world certainly, I would like to apologize to them as well”

Fans were quick to point out Stephen A’s mistake.

https://twitter.com/Louiskwakye400m/status/1415013061887504391

https://twitter.com/LilRuthChris/status/1414997133925646337

Jorge Alonso BroBible avatar
Brobible sports editor. Jorge is a Miami native and lifelong Heat fan. He has been covering the NBA, MLB and NFL professionally for almost 10 years, specializing in digital media.