{"id":6049,"date":"2022-02-04T18:22:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T15:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/?p=6049"},"modified":"2022-02-04T18:22:24","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T15:22:24","slug":"stephen-a-smith-apologizes-to-jehovahs-witnesses-after-incorrectly-claiming-theyre-against-the-covid-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/stephen-a-smith-apologizes-to-jehovahs-witnesses-after-incorrectly-claiming-theyre-against-the-covid-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith Apologizes to Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses After Incorrectly Claiming They\u2019re Against the Covid Vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stephen A. Smith issued an apology to Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses Thursday during the broadcast of \u201cFirst Take\u201d on ESPN, walking back comments from last week suggesting adherents to the religion don\u2019t believe in vaccines.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6050\" src=\"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/9i3U5q8.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"936\" height=\"527\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/9i3U5q8.jpeg 936w, https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/9i3U5q8-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/9i3U5q8-300x169.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI could have and should have been more clear in that discussion because I fully understand that Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses have no specific opposition to the vaccine,\u201d he said. \u201cI did not make that clear, so I want to make sure I make that now and my apologies for the mishap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ESPN&#039;s Stephen A Smith APOLOGIZES for DUMB comment implying Jehovah Witness&#039; are ANTI-VAX!\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VFB9Sd3ry8s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">His initial comments were made during a discussion of Golden State Warriors star Andrew Wiggins, who achieved the first All-Star selection of his career in the NBA. Wiggins is a Jehovah\u2019s Witness, which Smith brought up while discussing the athlete\u2019s hesitancy to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the league\u2019s refusal to grant him a religious exemption to vaccination rules.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Ultimately, Smith said Wiggins decided to get the jab because his team needed him to.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On a FAQ page on the Jehovah\u2019s Witness website, the answer to, \u201cAre Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses opposed to vaccination?\u201d is a clearly-stated, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cNo. Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are not opposed to vaccination. We view vaccination as a personal decision for each Christian to make. Many of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses choose to get vaccinated,\u201d says the site.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Smith has been known to apologize on-air when his comments earn him criticism, which happens frequently. In July 2021, he apologized broadly to the Asian community for his comments on Japanese-born baseball sensation Shohei Ohtani. His apology, specifically, was for declaring the previous day, \u201cI don\u2019t think it helps that the number-one face is a dude that needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he\u2019s saying in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Later that same day day, he doubled down on Twitter, writing, \u201cAmazing that folks still don\u2019t know me after all these years. If I am wrong about something, I will apologize. Especially if I unintentionally offend ANY GROUP of people \u2014 because it\u2019s the right thing to do. Period! I\u2019m BLACK. I would know!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen A. Smith issued an apology to Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses Thursday during the broadcast of \u201cFirst Take\u201d on ESPN, walking back comments from last week suggesting adherents to the religion don\u2019t believe in vaccines. \u201cI could&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6051,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6049\/revisions\/6051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}