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Indiana Pacers v Miami Heat - Game FiveUPDATE: On Friday morning, he made some controversial comments about domestic violence onESPN First Take while discussing the NFL‘s decision to suspend Ray Rice for two games during the upcoming NFL season. And those comments did not go over well with a lot of people. He then tried to explain himself on Twitter on Friday afternoon, but his tweets did little to clarify his original comments on the show. So on this morning’s episode of First Take, Stephen A. apologized for what he said and how he said it.

Stephen A. Smith has once again drawn the ire of the public by saying women shouldn’t provoke domestic violence in his defense of Ray Rice.

Many people are shocked that the NFL is only making Ray sit out of two games and pay a fine after video of him beating his then-girlfriend at an Atlantic City casino came out.

In a now infamous speech on ESPN’s “First Take,” Stephen shared his opinion that it takes two to tango. Apparently, women should accept some responsibility in their own beatings.

“We keep talking about the guys. We know you have no business putting your hands on a woman. I don’t know how many times I got to reiterate that,” said Stephen, who shared some advice that he’s given women in his family over the years. “Let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions.”

Simply holding attackers accountable for their actions, is only half of the problem, according to Stephen.

“I think that just talking about what guys shouldn’t do [is wrong]. We got to also make sure that you can do your part to do whatever you can do to try to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Stephen said, addressing women watching the show. “I don’t think that’s broached enough, is all I’m saying. No point of blame.”

Women and victims of abuse collectively cringed at Stephen’s statements, but his co-worker Michelle Beadle refused to hold her tongue. She let him know exactly how she felt about his advice that women be more careful in how they interact with men.

Meanwhile actress Pia Glenn pointed to Stephen that not even taking his advice is enough to keep some men from beating their women.

Sadly, Stephen is not the only man to harbor this opinion. In our #YouOKSis conversation with News One, many men exhibited the same attitude that women need to prevent their own abuse and harassment. The concepts of personal accountability and solidarity have been lost on so many.

Even outside of the #YouOKSis conversation, some men have even gotten a laugh out of domestic violence, as Feminista Jones highlighted in a post on her Twitter page earlier today.

 

UPDATE: Stephen A. Smith Apologizes after Suggesting Women Shouldn’t ‘Provoke’ Domestic Abuse  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com