It's proved to be quite the day on ESPN's "First Take" as Stephen A. Smith and company celebrated the birthday of fellow talking head Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, a reoccurring guest on the program.
And while it was the entertainment and sports talk that initially pulled in the audience, the likely reason behind "First Take" going viral Tuesday, as predicted by host Molly Qerim, was Smith's not-so-subtle advice for Qerim.
It took place during a conversation regarding Russo's birthday cake, which Qerim shared Mad Dog's wife was making at home.
"I talked to her this morning. She's baking his cake right now," Qerim said on ESPN, as shared by Awful Announcing on Twitter. "How sweet. I love it. From scratch."
Smith then responded: "Don't eat any, Molly. You've been eating enough over the last -- you ate my cake."
Qerim and fellow guest Keyshaun Johnson both were stunned by Smith's comments, though he tried to backtrack while providing clarification.
"I'm not talking about how you look, you look great," Smith followed up. "But she ate my cake. You look great, I'm just saying she ate my cake. That's all I meant by that."
A surprised Qerim then jumped back into the conversation while brushing it off.
"That's about to go viral," she said. "I blame you when there's a headline. Going viral, 'Stephen A. tells Molly she eats too much cake.' I see the headline now."
Fair to think Smith would prefer others criticizing his sports takes -- like his most recent about why the Celtics suspended and didn't fire Ime Udoka.
