{"id":676341,"date":"2026-01-14T10:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/676341\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T10:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:33:18","slug":"stephen-a-smith-misidentifies-texans-star-as-charlie-kirk-live-on-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/676341\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith Misidentifies Texans Star As Charlie Kirk Live On TV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen A. Smith made quite the awkward on-air blunder while discussing the Houston Texans\u2019 30-6 playoff win Monday over the Pittsburgh Steelers. <\/p>\n<p>While recapping the matchup on ESPN\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=31RYgFT4v30\" target=\"_blank\" role=\"link\" class=\" js-entry-link cet-external-link\" data-vars-item-name=\"First Take\u201d\" data-vars-item-type=\"text\" data-vars-unit-name=\"6966a4e4e4b0dd199b1a8e44\" data-vars-unit-type=\"buzz_body\" data-vars-target-content-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=31RYgFT4v30\" data-vars-target-content-type=\"url\" data-vars-type=\"web_external_link\" data-vars-subunit-name=\"article_body\" data-vars-subunit-type=\"component\" data-vars-position-in-subunit=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">First Take\u201d<\/a> on Tuesday, the sports commentator misidentified the Texans\u2019 star wide receiver, Christian Kirk, as the late right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe saw Charlie Kirk catch eight receptions for 144 yards,\u201d Smith said before co-host Shae Peppler Cornette interjected to remind him: \u201cChristian Kirk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith quickly corrected himself. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I apologize. Oh, my God, Christian Kirk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The verbal slip, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/awfulannouncing\/status\/2011119737288155216?s=20\" role=\"link\" class=\" js-entry-link cet-external-link\" data-vars-item-name=\"shared on X\" data-vars-item-type=\"text\" data-vars-unit-name=\"6966a4e4e4b0dd199b1a8e44\" data-vars-unit-type=\"buzz_body\" data-vars-target-content-id=\"https:\/\/x.com\/awfulannouncing\/status\/2011119737288155216?s=20\" data-vars-target-content-type=\"url\" data-vars-type=\"web_external_link\" data-vars-subunit-name=\"article_body\" data-vars-subunit-type=\"component\" data-vars-position-in-subunit=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow\">shared on X<\/a> by the sports media account Awful Announcing, has already racked up more than 11 million views. <\/p>\n<p>Christian Kirk and his team will play the New England Patriots on Sunday in an NFL divisional round playoff game. It appears that he has not publicly commented on the slip-up.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-sized__img landscape\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" alt=\"Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6966d4d01400005b3564c2b2.jpeg\" \/>Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n<p>Charlie Kirk, who co-founded the right-wing nonprofit Turning Point USA, built a massive social media following by holding debates on contentious cultural issues, where he often made incendiary, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/28\/magazine\/charlie-kirk-rhetoric.html\" target=\"_blank\" role=\"link\" class=\" js-entry-link cet-external-link\" data-vars-item-name=\"racist or sexist remarks\" data-vars-item-type=\"text\" data-vars-unit-name=\"6966a4e4e4b0dd199b1a8e44\" data-vars-unit-type=\"buzz_body\" data-vars-target-content-id=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/28\/magazine\/charlie-kirk-rhetoric.html\" data-vars-target-content-type=\"url\" data-vars-type=\"web_external_link\" data-vars-subunit-name=\"article_body\" data-vars-subunit-type=\"component\" data-vars-position-in-subunit=\"2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">racist or sexist remarks<\/a>. He was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/charlie-kirk-shot-suspect-arrested_n_68c1c881e4b056a14e6877c8\" role=\"link\" class=\" js-entry-link cet-internal-link\" data-vars-item-name=\"shot and killed \" data-vars-item-type=\"text\" data-vars-unit-name=\"6966a4e4e4b0dd199b1a8e44\" data-vars-unit-type=\"buzz_body\" data-vars-target-content-id=\"68c1c881e4b056a14e6877c8\" data-vars-target-content-type=\"buzz\" data-vars-type=\"web_internal_link\" data-vars-subunit-name=\"article_body\" data-vars-subunit-type=\"component\" data-vars-position-in-subunit=\"3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shot and killed <\/a>while speaking with students at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. <\/p>\n<p>After the killing, Smith condemned anyone celebrating Kirk\u2019s death on his SiriusXM radio show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t care what his political beliefs were. I don\u2019t care what he felt. I care about the fact that a man was gunned down in front of two of his children, who are 5 years of age or less,\u201d he said during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M8QQTea3-qs\" target=\"_blank\" role=\"link\" class=\" js-entry-link cet-external-link\" data-vars-item-name=\"Sep. 11 episode\" data-vars-item-type=\"text\" data-vars-unit-name=\"6966a4e4e4b0dd199b1a8e44\" data-vars-unit-type=\"buzz_body\" data-vars-target-content-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M8QQTea3-qs\" data-vars-target-content-type=\"url\" data-vars-type=\"web_external_link\" data-vars-subunit-name=\"article_body\" data-vars-subunit-type=\"component\" data-vars-position-in-subunit=\"4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sep. 11 episode<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He also praised the New York Yankees for honoring Kirk with a moment of silence ahead of a game against the Detroit Tigers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProps to the New York Yankees organization last night for having a moment of silence,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe\u2019re not supposed to condone stuff like this. We\u2019re not supposed to say it\u2019s OK. I don\u2019t give a damn who you are, Black, white or anything in between.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith made quite the awkward on-air blunder while discussing the Houston Texans\u2019 30-6 playoff win Monday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[58365,7,221,253,2368,6,1871,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-676341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-charlie-kirk","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-houstontexans","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-stephen-a-smith","15":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}