Via RGIII Twitter. Listen up, women, because Stephen A. Smith has some words of wisdom for you: If your fiance is a famous football player, then he “has no business being a part of the wedding registry.” Lazy ladies are always asking for help, am I right?
By now, you may have heard that fans of Robert Griffin III sent the Washington football team quarterback gifts from his Bed, Bath & Beyond wedding registry. Griffin plans to wed Rebecca Liddicoat this July. After some objected to the 23-year-old millionaire accepting gifts from his presumably less wealthy fans, he tweeted, “Because you are rich you are not allowed to receive gifts and any gifts you receive should be donated to charity???? #WOW Smh…”
While RGIII may be shaking his head at the “Debbie Downers” who don’t appreciate his fans’ generosity, others may have an issue with the unsolicited advice provided by Stephen A. Smith to the player’s fiancée on ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike show today. The Washington Post’s Sarah Kogod kindly transcribed the rant:
I know people [are going to say] Stephen A. needs to calm down. No, y’all calm down. I’m not being misogynistic in any way, shape, form or fashion. I’m sure she’s a wonderful, lovely lady. I’m very happy for him, their July wedding. All the best, God bless you both. But let me throw a little bit of the love doctor in here. Understand something. You’re a woman, you’re messing with a high-profile—I shouldn’t say messing—you’re involved with a high-profile dude. He has no business being a part of the wedding registry. Handle it yourself. He’s RGIII. No, to you he’s Robert. Whatever it is that you call him. It’s cute, it’s nice. But it’s none of our business. Don’t make it everybody’s business. You, I believe her name is Jennifer? Is it? Whatever her name is, what I’m saying is, you handle that.
…
She could have stood up there and said, you’ve got no business being a part of this wedding registry because you’re RGIII. I will handle this. … Ladies, sometimes you have to look out for the guy. You gotta look our for him. I mean, you always do in the end because women are the greatest creatures on the planet earth. But I’m just saying in situations like this, to me this is tantamount to asking him to go shopping at the mall. Why? He’s RGIII. Don’t do that to him.
This is not the first time someone related to ESPN has said something completely inappropriate about Griffin’s relationship with “whatever her name is.” Rob Parker questioned whether Griffin is a “cornball brother” because of his fiancée whiteness. Parker’s contract was not renewed.