Stephen A. Smith Responds to Josh Gordon on ESPN First Take, Says He's Going to Reach Out to Him Today

Stephen A. Smith responds to the open letter Josh Gordon published yesterday for a second time.

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Yesterday afternoon, Josh Gordon published an open letter on The Cauldron that featured him calling out some of his harshest critics. In the letter, he addressed Charles Barkley, Cris Carter, and Stephen A. Smith directly and criticized them for speaking publicly about his off-the-field issues without having any first-hand knowledge about any of them. And Stephen A. in particular was not happy with some of the things Gordon wrote. He made an appearance on ESPN Radio Cleveland last night and referred to Gordon as "pathetic."

After sleeping on it, though, it seems Stephen A. decided to soften his stance on Gordon. He spoke about Gordon's open letter on ESPN First Take this morning and, rather than throwing more shots at the Browns wide receiver, he referred to his situation as "incredibly sad" and said that Gordon "clearly has a problem." He also said that he doesn't need to know Gordon in order to judge him because Gordon has given his critics plenty of ammo by getting into trouble off the field on a number of occasions in the past.

"You are not accepting full responsibility," he said, "because if you truly were, my name wouldn't have even come up. It's really, really sad. I'm sad for the brother. I'm going to pray for the brother."

Stephen A. added that he plans on reaching out to Gordon today. How do you think that's gonna go?

[via YouTube]

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