Despite the damning information connecting Steve Tisch to Jeffrey Epstein, Stephen A. Smith isn’t ready to call for the New York Giants to distance themselves from their co-owner.
Tisch, a film producer whose family owns 45 percent of the Giants, recently emerged in the latest Epstein files release. The Giants co-owner responded by issuing a statement on his relationship with Epstein, claiming, “We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments.”
Since the statement, The Athletic has now reported further details on Tisch’s disturbing relationship with Epstein. According to The Athletic, Tisch met Epstein after he was already registered as the highest level of sex offender. Additionally, emails between the two show Epstein introduced Tisch to at least four different women. But based on the latest information reported by The Athletic, Stephen A. Smith still doesn’t believe there is enough evidence for this story to escalate.
“We don’t know the age of the young ladies, according to the reports, there’s nothing that says any of the ladies were underaged. That much we know. But what we do know, and what we could surmise, is that Steve Tisch was being hooked up with other women by Jeffrey Epstein,” Smith said on his Mad Dog Sports Radio show. “He was hooking up with the women via Jeffrey Epstein, and he was doing so for a lengthy period of time.”
Smith acknowledged the people being discussed by Tisch and Epstein may have been “young ladies,” but that doesn’t mean they were underaged, citing Larry Brown, Bill Belichick, and Robert Kraft as prominent sports figures who have had relationships with women who are much younger.
“My cup of tea? Absolutely not, but who the hell am I to judge?” Smith continued. “It’s not illegal if they’re not underaged. And at the end of the day, that’s where the conversation has to stop. If it’s consensual with a consenting adult, it’s not for me or any of us to judge. We can sit up there and say it ain’t us, we don’t like it, but no laws are being broken. That is the reality. There’s no way around that. The only way this is a story that should continue to percolate is if Steve Tisch is found to be messing with underaged girls…If they ain’t underaged then there’s no there there, whether we like it or not. That is a fact.”
Tisch might not face legal action based on the current information. But after having such a close association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, does he deserve to be an NFL owner? Can the New York Giants still trust the judgment of Tisch enough to continue in his role as chairman and executive vice president of the team?
Sure, there have been other rich and powerful sports figures who have discussed prostitution and attempted to lure young women. But even if that is all he is guilty of, Tisch deserves to suffer additional consequences for dealing with a human trafficker convicted of a sex crime. Pleading ignorance might work from a legal standpoint. But his judgment should not be trusted as a chairman, co-owner, and executive vice president of an NFL franchise.