Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has threatened to sue ESPN’s Frist Take and analyst Stephen A. Smith over the show’s comments about his 2014 DUI arrest.
During an interview with Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, 64-year-old Irsay told interviewer Andrea Kremer that he was discriminated against nine years ago when he was arrested in Carmel, Indiana on suspicion of driving under the influence.
“I’m biased because I’m a rich, white billionaire,” Irsay told Kremer. “If I’m just the average guy from the neighborhood, they won’t move me in, of course not.”
First Take and Smith addressed the NFL franchise owner’s comments on Wednesday — with the ESPN personality branding Irsay an “entitled old brat” — which led to the 64-year-old threatening to sue the program over the panel’s response .
Irsay took on / I give away $2000-$10,000 dollars to the homeless and people needed on the streets, all the time and pass it on, making the world a better place.”
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has threatened to sue ESPN’s Frist Take
Jim Irsay published a series of posts Wednesday evening vowing to sue First Take
“My grandparents came across Ellis Island with just the shirt on their backs. Destitute and on the run from Jewish concentration camps… I grew up in a horrible home where both my brother and sister died in a car accident in 1971. I worked for a living I bought 30% of the Colts Bank loan’ , he added, saying it was unclear how this related to the situation.
He concluded with a reference to ESPN reporter Kimberley A. Martin, adding, “And at 1st Take, the woman who preceded Stephen A… how dare you pretend you know me; I don’t know your name and I don’t care. If my black mother Dorthy was still alive… you’d be in a lot of hot water! You’re mean and ugly. You’re a nothing citizen.’
First Take host Molly Qerim said on the show: “If you start to revisit that after 2014, it’s an opportunity to address a serious situation where a lot of people have lost their lives. But you went that way instead.”
Then Smith said, “Because he thinks about himself. He doesn’t think about anything else, he only thinks about himself. Because he’s an entitled old brat, that’s what it really comes down to.
Jim Irsay says he was on medication when he was arrested for drunken driving in 2014
Stephen A. Smith called the Colts owner an “entitled old brat” on Wednesday
“And at the end of the day, he’s lucky he owns the National Football League. Because they’re printing money for crying out loud. You’d have to be the dumbest person in the world not to make money as an NFL owner these days.
“If he was an NBA owner, I assure you it would be a problem,” he continued. Since you have a plethora of players who look at him with utter disgust… with free will, you wouldn’t want to play for someone like that.
The ‘woman who preceded Stephen A. Smith on First Take, Martin, also said of Irsay’s comments on Real Sports: ‘What’s frustrating is that his comments illustrate exactly what people think NFL owners are: aloof, just totally lacking of awareness of their privilege and the lightheartedness with which they talk about their privilege.’
“He came across as if he was a victim and that anyone who has had as many opportunities as he has – just because of his name, the family he grew up in and the color of his skin – bothered me on many levels. ‘
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo also said on the show that Irsay was a “fool” and that he didn’t see him as a “legitimate owner.”
“He got the team because his dad had his team…he had a lot of drugs in the car (during the arrest) and had $29,000 in cash,” he said.
“I don’t consider him a legitimate owner anyway, I consider him a lucky owner.”
Following Irsay’s series of posts on X on Wednesday, Martin even changed her name on the platform to “Woman who preceded Stephen A.”