ESPNers back up Stephen A. Smiths furious Jason Whitlock takedown

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Stephen A. Smith may be the angriest Jason Whitlock hater — but he is far from alone.

After the “First Take” host called the Blaze Media personality a “bitch” and a “fat-ass piece of s–t” in a lengthy and fiery rant on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” Jemele Hill and others slammed Whitlock and recalled their own experiences working with him.

“Stephen A Smith told the truth,” Hill, who previously worked at ESPN from 2006-2018, wrote in a post on X. “Ole Boy tried to recruit a bunch of us to do some work for what was then the ‘Undefeated’ and we did not want to work with him.”

Hill was referring to Whitlock’s failed stint at the “The Undefeated” in 2013, when ESPN hired him as the founding editor of the website to cover the intersection of race and sports — and he was demoted from his position in April 2015, but was still employed by the media giant.

“SportsCenter” host Stan Verrett recalled “how dysfunctional” Whitlock was.

“He was planning a feature on the undefeated called ‘open look’ where any of us could write commentaries,” Verrett wrote. “We spoke about it walking on Olympic blvd one day. Once I saw how dysfunctional the whole enterprise was, I passed on being involved.”

Gregory Hampton Lee Jr., a senior editor for Front Office Sports, wrote, “He interviewed me for the Undefeated and it was the worst experience.”

Whitlock had two stints working for ESPN, with the first from 2002-06 as a writer who made frequent appearances on its studio shows. 

Smith’s rant came after Whitlock called out his book, “Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes,” and claimed the top ESPN personality wrote lies and exaggerations and called him a Myth.

Warning: explicit language

“I mean it from my soul when I say this is the worst human being I’ve ever known,” Smith said. “I don’t know of another human being worse than Jason Whitlock.

“He is a piece of s–t. He’s the dude that’s going to have a funeral and ain’t going to be no pallbearers.”

Smith also said he called his bosses at ESPN for permission to rip Whitlock on his YouTube show, which he owns — and he called his pastor for forgiveness beforehand.

Smith and Whitlock have been trading not-so-subtle shots through the years following Whitlock’s exit from ESPN in 2015.

ESPN said in a statement the split was mutual, but Whitlock later claimed the “real reason” ESPN “fired” him was because they didn’t agree with his masculine representation. 

Smith joined ESPN as an analyst in 2003 and is now one of their highest-paid personalities.

He makes $12 million per year on the contract he signed in late 2019 — a five-year, $60 million deal.

As The Post’s Andrew Marchand previously reported, Smith’s personal salary is $8 million a year, but he also has a $4 million-per-year production contract.

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