Stephen A. Smith apologizes after mocking Lane Johnson’s mental health retirement on First Take [VIDEO]
The ESPN Host Says “I Was Wrong” One Day After Impersonating the Retiring Eagles Tackle on Live Television
Stephen A. Smith has apologized on air. The ESPN star mocked Lane Johnson’s retirement during Wednesday’s First Take. Johnson, 36, had left the Philadelphia Eagles one day earlier. He cited his mental health and his family. Smith turned that statement into a sarcastic impression. By Thursday morning, he was telling viewers he messed up.
The reversal took roughly 24 hours. Co-panelists challenged Smith live at the desk. He first insisted his target was the Eagles, not the player. That defense did not hold. He opened his podcast by conceding he had made light of mental health. Johnson’s retirement stands, and the Eagles are backing him fully.
An Impression, Then a Revolt at the Desk
The segment began as a standard football debate. At the time, the Eagles sat at 2-2, A.J. Brown was gone, Devonta Smith was hurt, and Saquon Barkley had a hamstring injury. The team had just finished a game without nine starters. Stephen A. framed Lane Johnson’s exit as proof of a franchise in disarray.
Then he slipped into character. Smith voiced Johnson deciding to “call it quits” and hammered the timing. “Not before the season. Not in the offseason. Oh, no, no, no, no!” he said. He paused theatrically before the stated reason. “His mental health? Am I making it up?” The delivery was loud and close to laughter.
Pressing the point in his own voice, Stephen A. said: “As an offensive tackle, lord, you know it is bad.” He argued no veteran walks away from an undefeated contender. He closed with one more impression, repeating “My mental health. My mental.” He called it trouble for the Eagles.
The table did not play along. Kimberley A. Martin looked stunned. She said Johnson had been weighing retirement for some time. She told Smith he was “making light of the situation.” Jordan Rodgers reminded viewers that Johnson had cited mental health. Chris “Mad Dog” Russo said the team’s record had nothing to do with it.
Smith shifted gears on the spot. “I would never make light of mental health issues,” he said. “I’m making light of the Philadelphia Eagles’ trashy situation right now.” First, he called the team’s situation chaotic and haphazard. Then, he said players who return usually commit for the full year. The clip that spread, however, was the impression.
Who Lane Johnson Is, and Why the Joke Landed So Badly
Lane Johnson is no fringe player. The Oklahoma native went fourth overall to Philadelphia in 2013. Johnson never played anywhere else. He won two Super Bowls and earned six Pro Bowl selections. General manager Howie Roseman has called him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The show’s own graphic made the case. The Eagles won at a .659 clip with him and .375 without him.
His mental health history is also public record. Johnson missed three games in 2021 for personal reasons, later revealing he had been battling depression and anxiety. Prescribed with antidepressant medication, he described withdrawal symptoms after coming off of them. Ever since, he has spoken openly about it. He had also hinted at retirement for years and signaled 2026 would be his last season.
This year brought heavier weight. Johnson missed four days of training camp to help care for his family. His mother has been diagnosed with cancer. His father is also ill. He sat out the Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Two days later, he announced he was done.
His statement was direct. Johnson wrote that he “deeply wanted to gut it out for one more year.” He said his personal and family priorities had changed. “Right now it is critical that I focus on my mental health,” he wrote. He did not want to give teammates less than full effort. Coaches, players, Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie all backed him publicly.
The Apology: From “Misconstrued” to “I Was Wrong”
Smith’s first response came within hours. On his satellite radio show Wednesday, he said people had “misconstrued” him. He insisted he would never minimize mental health. To further his point, Stephen A. pointed to his own struggles. He repeated that the joke was aimed at the Eagles’ disarray.
Thursday sounded different, as Smith opened First Take with a prepared statement and no jokes. “My intent was joking about the Eagles,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what my intent was; it’s how it’s perceived. I messed up.”
After the defenses, he dropped the qualifiers entirely. “And when you’re an adult and you’re a man, you have to admit that you were wrong,” Smith said. He named the people he owed. “I was wrong to Lane Johnson. I was wrong to the Philadelphia Eagles.” He said plainly that he had made light of mental health.
X Called for the Apology Before It Came
Viewers reacted fast, and most reacted angrily. The dominant complaint was simple. They said the mental health line was the joke itself. Many noted how uncomfortable the panel looked. Some said the table seemed ready to cut him off.
One reply with about 4,770 likes predicted the later clarification almost verbatim: that Smith would say he meant no disrespect to “the brother,” call him an all-time great, and direct the tone at the Eagles as an organization. Another with about 1,848 likes said the segment was consistent with Smith’s usual conduct and that an apology would follow and the matter would be treated as closed. A reply from an Eagles fan account called Smith, in explicit terms, the biggest dirtball on television. A separate quote post said the other people at the table looked as if they wanted to interrupt before the bit went further.
Later posts tracked the clarifications and the Thursday apology. Some treated the apology as insufficient, writing “nobody misunderstood you.” Others used the episode to restate a general claim that mental-health disclosures, including from men, should be taken at face value. One critical note from an NFL journalist pointed out that Johnson’s mother has cancer and his father is also sick, and contrasted that with Smith’s own account of depression and time away from work after his mother’s illness and death. The point was that the segment ran without that research.
Other circulating reactions included calls for Smith to be fired, statements that the user would not accept the apology, and posts linking the segment to Mental Health Awareness Month framing. A smaller set of posts agreed the Eagles’ situation was poor but separated that football claim from the impersonation of the mental-health line.
Stephen A.’s Own History Became Part of the Story
Smith knows this ground personally, as his mother, Janet, died of cancer in 2017. In his 2023 memoir, Straight Shooter, he wrote about her death sending him into depression. In addition, he has detailed stepping away from work as her illness worsened. That history is why the impression struck so many as baffling.
The overlap with Lane Johnson is close to exact. As previously mentioned, Johnson’s mother is fighting cancer now. His father is sick too. He left the game citing family and mental health. Stephen A. once took time off for the same reasons. Critics said a few minutes of research would have killed the bit before it aired.
Smith then reached for that history himself. On Wednesday, he cited his own struggles as proof he would never mock mental health. The argument backfired. Viewers heard a man who understood the subject and joked anyway. It carried extra weight in Philadelphia, where Smith built his name as a newspaper columnist. He now reportedly earns more than $30 million a year as sports television’s loudest voice.
What Comes Next for Smith, Johnson and the Eagles
Nothing about the retirement has changed. Johnson has not wavered, and the Eagles have not asked him to. The organization’s support remains exactly where it stood Tuesday. The league has taken no action over the segment.
The football problem is real and immediate. Philadelphia must replace an elite right tackle four games into the season. The roster was already thin at receiver and running back. The team’s record without Johnson suggests how steep that climb is.
Smith remains in his chair, with three statements now on the record. Sports debate shows will face this test again. More players are naming depression, anxiety and medication in public. The next host handed one of those statements will have Wednesday’s clip as a warning.