Shohei Ohtani: ESPN’s Stephen A Smith apologises for saying Japanese MLB star ‘harming the game’ because he ‘doesn’t speak English’
- After intense backlash, Smith said he ‘screwed up’ for his ‘regrettable’ take on Ohtani’s need for an interpreter
- Pundit also receiving heat from Nigerian basketball contingent after poking fun at names in their surprise win over US
“Even though baseball is an international sport – and I totally get that – [the MLB] is played in the United States and Canada. So when I’m looking at it in the [US] … you talk about its lack of diversity in terms of African-American players, the influx of foreign players whether they be from Venezuela or the Dominican Republic or Japan or anywhere else. If you are a star and you need an interpreter, that might have something to do … with your inability to ingratiate yourself with that young demographic to attract them to the sport,” Smith said of the 27-year-old Ohtani, who is drawing increasing comparisons with the legendary Babe Ruth.
“When I look at Ohtani, he’s big time … This brother is special, make no mistake about it. But the fact that you have a foreign player that doesn’t speak English, that needs an interpreter, believe it or not, I think contributes to harming the game to some degree when that’s your box office appeal. It needs to be somebody like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, those guys. Unfortunately at this moment in time, that’s not the case.”
Though acknowledging Ohtani’s accomplishments are “nothing short of spectacular”, he continued: “I understand baseball is an international sport in terms of participation. But when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube or to the ballpark to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the No 1 face is a dude that needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he is saying in this country.”
“In other sports like basketball, you notice, Dirk Nowitzki was German and Manu Ginobili and others were from other places, and guess what? They spoke fluent English. You understood what they were saying when somebody was interviewing them. They didn’t need an interpreter. It goes a long way. For some reason with [MLB], you’ve got these guys that need those interpreters and I think that compromises the ability for them to ingratiate themselves with the American public, which is what we’re really talking about.”