Stephen A. Smith Defends Skip Bayless Over Accusations He Offered Co-Worker $1.5M For Sex

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Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless may not have had the most amicable split when the latter took his talents to FS1, but Smith didn’t let that get in the way of addressing the allegations hurled against his former cohost.

Earlier this week, a lawsuit accused Bayless of sexually assaulting former hairstylist Noushin Faraji, who worked on Fox’s Undisputed, with “lingering hugs and kisses on the cheek while putting his body against hers and pressing against her breasts.” She even accused Bayless of offering her $1.5 million to have sex with him.

Smith took to his Stephen A Smith platform on YouTube to say that while he doesn’t know the facts of the lawsuit, he can speak about Bayless’ character in his presence regarding the accusations.

“The Skip Bayless, I know, has a hard time giving away $15. He’s one of the cheapest people I know. That’s just me, but that doesn’t mean that I have any inside knowledge about any of this,” Smith said.

Smith adds that it’s been shocking to see Bayless in this position, and he’s reached out to people familiar with Faraji, who says, “She’s meticulous with her details, and she’s going to chronicle things, and that’s how she operates.”

The First Take frontman explains that he can’t speak on the facts of the case but will talk about the Bayless he knows, who sticks to a strict regimen and isn’t the most social person.

“I also feel it’s important that if you know people, or you think you know people, and you’ve had a longstanding relationship with those people, that it’s not a crime for you to say the person I know … the person I’ve worked with — in his case for four straight years from 2012 to 2016 doing ‘First Take’ … the person that I’ve seen really, really trusts almost no one and doesn’t expose himself to anybody,” Smith added.

The suit also alleges FS1’s Executive Vice President of Content, Charlie Dixon,  grabbed Faraji’s butt at a birthday party. When she informed co-worker Joy Taylor, she told her to “get over it.” The former Fox makeup artist added that Joy Taylor was romantically involved with former NFL player turned sports analyst Emmanuel Acho.

See how social media reacted to the bombshell suit below.