Stephen A. Smith is apologizing after admitting that he repeated false information about Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert’s divorce.
During an episode of The Culture Table, Smith claimed that Teyana walked away from the former couple’s divorce with $25 million in cash, another $10 million worth of property and luxury vehicles.
He also claimed that Iman was left with approximately $2 million and nowhere to live.
There was just one major problem: The information was not true.
Smith later revealed that he personally spoke with Teyana, who informed him that the financial figures and quotes circulating online were inaccurate.
He has since removed the original episode and publicly apologized to both Teyana and Iman.
“Those statements were inaccurate,” Smith said while acknowledging that his company, Straight Shooter Media, failed to properly verify the information before presenting it to viewers.
Smith also said some of the viral quotes he believed were from Iman were never actually said by the former NBA player.
He expressed regret that the segment may have made it appear that Iman had publicly criticized the mother of his children.
Smith said he has personally apologized to both parties and emphasized that he has tremendous respect for Teyana and Iman.
The situation is another reminder of how quickly false information can spread online, even when it involves very public people.
And when you have a platform as large as Stephen A.’s, verifying the story before repeating it becomes even more important.