ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith has been known to stir up controversy, most recently for alleging that Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly is racist, and earlier today the sports media personality riled up a few rappers when he sent out a tweet with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Smith sent out a tweet that referred to the "All lives matter" comments made by Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley at a conference in Maryland. O'Malley, who issued an apology after being booed off the stage, came under fire after his comments were deemed insensitive and undermined the #BlackLivesMatter movement. In a series of tweets sent out earlier this (July 21) afternoon, Smith wrote, amongst other things, that "there's nothing wrong when a presidential candidate says "All lives Matter"!":

Smith's mentions were soon on fire and Talib Kweli and Killer Mike were all over Smith:

About ninety minutes after the original tweet, Smith issued a statement in an extended tweet that reads as follows:

I didn't hear Gov. Martin O'Malley's interview. And I'm not debating the significance of "Black Lives Matter." I'm a BLACK MAN! I know this. 
Nor am I focusing on O'Malley's words or context itself. That's really not the issue to me.
The issue is: as much as attention was so desperately aimed towards "Black Lives Matter," where is all this noise when Black folks are getting killed in our communities every single day? Does it only matter when we're getting killed OUTSIDE OF OUR COMMUNITY, by folks who look differently than us?
That was my point. It IS my point. It will REMAIN my point. And I'm not changing my position one bit.
Whatever context O'Malley made in saying "All Lives Matter" is his issue to deal with. The same could be said for Hillary Rodham-Clinton when she alluded to that weeks ago. But it still does not negate the point that if we've reached a point where a PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE is forced to apologize and engage in clarification when choosing to say "ALL LIVES MATTER" -- while a few Black Folks are allowed to reign terror throughout our own community by killing one another with nary a word said about it, then the problems that truly permeate the Black Community will never be resolved.
It's the truth. Deal with it.
No Black Man with a soul would dream of attacking the movement that is "Black Lives Matter." I'm certainly not doing any such thing. I never will.
Just make sure I hear #BlackLivesMatter ALL the time.
Specifically, when we're getting killed by one another

More From XXL