Stephen A. Smith Says Anakin Threw His Fight With Obi-Wan

After spitting hot takes about the UFC and the Oscar Best Picture winner Parasite, outspoken ESPN sports commentator Stephen A. Smith has now taken aim at Star Wars.

In a recent appearance on Schmoedown Entertainment News Live, Smith ripped into Anakin Skywalker when asked what he thought of the lightsaber duel between Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar.

“Here’s the deal: After all that jumping on platforms, Anakin was done. He barely made the leap onto that droid collector. So when Obi-Wan took the high ground, it was game over. It look like Ani gave up. It was just an atrocious performance on his part. Talk about having no heart,” said Smith.

Schmoedown host Kristian Harloff responded by saying Smith lacked the proper perspective to fairly critique the duel. The two continued debating until Harloff suddenly stormed off set with producers trying their best to chase him down.  

Smith made the most of the downtime and double-downed on his position, speaking directly to camera about why he believes Obi-Wan Kenobi didn’t earn the victory on Mustafar. According to Smith, the entire duel was rigged to set up the rematch seen in A New Hope. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the InterGalactic Banking Clan was behind it all.”

After waiting for Smith to leave, Harloff finally reappeared, and addressed the war of words.

“With lightsaber duels, you either know what you’re talking about, or no one’s going to respect you. If you don’t know what you’re talking about and you’re talking about it in front of hundreds, maybe thousands of people, man that’s a bad look for everybody. It’s a bad look for ESPN, it’s a bad look for Schmoes everywhere, it’s a bad look for lightsaber duels. It’s like … there’s other people that can do this.”

FSW reached out to Smith for a comment regarding Harloff’s parting shot. 

 “I don’t claim to be the aficionado Kristian is or anybody else covering lightsaber duels,” he said. “But excuse me? I have been a reporter for 25 years; I have covered sports on a variety of competitive levels regardless of what the sport is. That includes boxing and the UFC. It don’t take much to look at Anakin’s lame jumps and see he was gas’ed out and not even trying by the end. Listen, I respect the fact that he became Darth Vader and slaughtered thousands of Jedi… but in his first duel against Obi-Wan, he folded like a cheap tent. Period. Bad night for him. Bad night. That’s all. And I stand by that. And I’m going to still stand by that.”

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