ESPN reportedly ordered some of its on-air talent to cut ties with a controversial online gaming app without asking the same of the network’s biggest star, Stephen A. Smith.
According to Front Office Sports, Dan Orlovsky, Kendrick Perkins, Mina Kimes, and Laura Rutledge were all told to end their respective relationships with Papaya Gaming after the quartet followed in Smith’s footsteps by promoting the company’s solitaire app on social media.
But FOS reports Smith was exempt from the directive to break from Papaya Gaming, which is facing a federal lawsuit accusing the company of false marketing and violating New York’s general business law. According to the lawsuit filed by mobile game platform Skillz Platform Inc., Papaya used bots ‘masquerading as human players’ to prevent human customers from winning money on its website.
Papaya has filed a counterclaim alleging Skillz also uses bots and claiming Skillz only sued because the company ‘is in the midst of a financial downturn that has lasted for three years.’
Kimes has already apologized for what she called a ‘colossal f***-up.’
‘The truth is: I didn’t spend any time looking into the whole thing, and that’s 100% on me,’ wrote on X. ‘Thought it was just typical marketing work, and I’m deeply embarrassed I didn’t vet it.’
Stephen A. Smith han’t yet cut ties with Papaya Gaming, which hired him to promote an app
ESPN’s Mina Kimes has already publicly distanced herself from Papaya Gaming
ESPN’s Laura Rutledge deleted a social media post promoting Papaya Gaming’s app
Later, on Bluesky, she added: ‘Haven’t been paid a dime (we’ll see what happens now!!) but it [sic] I do I’m certainly giving it away.’
Kimes, Orlovsky and Rutledge have all since deleted their promotional social media posts for Papaya Gaming. As of Wednesday evening, though, Smith and Perkins both still had their promotional social media posts showing on their respective accounts.
The solitaire app promotion was announced five months after Smith was caught playing the card game on his phone during the NBA Finals last June.
ESPN has declined to comment publicly on the matter, but Smith appeared to second guess the partnership on his podcast earlier this week.
‘We’re aware of the recent legal developments involving Papaya and the broader skill/gaming space,’ Smith said. ‘My team is currently evaluating the accuracy and merits of the claims made. I want to be very clear. I do not support nor condone any company engaging in fraudulent or unfair gaming practices. Thus, my team and I will evaluate the situation and ensure that we are not in favor of any fraudulent or unfair gaming practices at all.’
NBA champion Kendrick Perkins was reportedly asked by ESPN to cut ties with Papaya
Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky also deleted a post promoting Papaya Gaming
Spokespeople for the cable giant did not immediately respond to Daily Mail’s request for comment Wednesday evening. FOS did not receive a response from Smith’s spokespeople regarding the website’s report.
Smith has already taken criticism for the controversy from his ex-ESPN and SiriusXM colleague Michelle Beadle.
‘It’s not secret how I feel about that human,’ she said on the ‘Beadle and Decker’ podcast. ‘I’m not a religious person, but I pray for the downfall. I really do.’
‘It’s gross, man. You gotta have principles in this thing,’ Beadle continued.
‘ESPN pays him a gazillion dollars to get a lot of stuff wrong and yell. He gets caught playing solitaire during the NBA freaking Finals, the thing he’s an expert in.
‘He made you look like fools for handing him a blank check in the first place, because doesn’t even give a s*** about the stuff that he’s paid a gazillion dollars to talk about.
‘Now he’s turning around and turning that into a money-making opportunity… and it looks like a fraudulent c*** business to begin with.’
Back in June, Beadle and her co-host Cody Decker were fired by SiriusXM, a day after she made a passionate on-air rant about Smith taking her job.
The deal comes five months after Smith was caught playing solitaire on his phone
Michelle Beadle reignited her feud with Stephen A. Smith amid his new sponsorship deal
Smith has since responded on his own SiriusXM show.
‘I hear people talking about me on SiriusXM and who they would have preferred and who they would have wanted or whatever. I’ve been doing this for 30 years,’ he began on Mad Dog Sports Radio, without naming Beadle. ‘I’ve been blessed and fortunate that when I’m doing stuff in this industry, I win.
‘You got some people that were in this business and they talk smack now cause they can’t get a job in the business cause they didn’t do a good enough job when they were in the business, so now they gotta talk smack and their reputation is they’re talking to people.
‘Well, what you got going on? It’s all of that that comes with it, because somewhere along the way, they didn’t do what it took to resonate continuously. And that’s why they’re on the outside looking in… they don’t have a job in the industry. Don’t think they don’t want one. They do. They just didn’t know how to act, and they didn’t know how to be productive enough to keep a job.’
As for the Papaya lawsuit, the company previously released a statement saying it ‘looks forward to vigorously proving in trial that Skillz’ misleading accusations against the company are false and unjustified.’
