Stephen A. Smith said Jada Pinkett Smith‘s comments regarding Will Smith have “exceeded cruelty.” On Friday (Oct. 13), a new episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show included the journalist voicing his thoughts on the Smith’s marriage. 

While he admitted that the situation “wasn’t his business,” he expressed frustration with Jada “emasculating” Will. The talking head went as far as saying that Pinkett’s comments were destroying Will’s public image. “Let me tell y’all what Will Smith does not deserve: He does not deserve what Jada Pinkett Smith has done to him,” he began. “Now I know people very, very close to Jada Pinkett Smith, and I am not going to utter a disrespectful word about her. That’s not where I’m going. It’s deeper than that.” 

“There are a few questions that Jada Pinkett Smith deserves to be asked to her. Where’s your compassion? Where’s your decency? Where is your respect for a man you still acknowledge as your husband? Where is the respect for a man you walked down the aisle with and pledged your life to in 1997 for better or worse, for rich or [for] poorer, in sickness and in health, ’til death do you part?”

The First Take host then asserted the Set It Off actress wasn’t observing her wedding vows. He pointed to her “entanglement” with August Alsina and the constant mentions of 2Pac as examples. 

“Somebody gotta say it to Jada plain and simple: Go to the Torah, go to the Bible, go to the holy Quran, pick whatever you want,” he continued. “Let’s talk about the role of a wife, at least from the perspective of just sparing him. I’m not getting in the right or wrong.” 

“You want to mess with some dude that’s your son’s friend? As trifling as that may seem in people’s eyes, that’s your damn business. You want to break up with your husband and all of this stuff? That’s your damn business. This public emasculation needs to stop. Jada, all you’re doing is elevating the level of vitriol coming your way. Because it don’t matter what you say. There’s nothing you can say to a man to justify what you have done to Will Smith. Every time I see Jada Pinkett Smith talk about Will Smith, I cringe. We kings. We ain’t here like to be treated like that.”

Jada recently revealed that she and Will Smith have been separated since 2016. Today released a clip from her forthcoming NBC News primetime special with Hoda Kotb on Wednesday (Oct. 11). The actress explains why the Smiths hadn’t gone public with the news and admits they weren’t “ready yet.” 

“[It was] just not being ready yet… Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in [a] partnership… In regards to, how do we present that to people? We hadn’t figured that out,” she recalled.

Jada explained that they have been living “completely separate lives” since 2016 — almost two decades after they tied the knot in 1997. As she continued, the actress explained that the two are still legally bound to one another and “wasn’t a divorce on paper.” However, Jada insists that their separate lives “was a divorce.” Jada then disclosed that she considered getting a proper divorce from Will at one point but couldn’t go through with it. 

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