Stephen A. Smith found himself in an awkward situation on Tuesday’s episode of ESPN’s First Take, leaving viewers feeling uneasy.

Known recently for his ventures into political commentary and even hinting at a Presidential run, Smith’s political enthusiasm seemed to clash with his sports expertise during this week’s broadcast.

While analyzing the Houston Texans’ commanding playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Smith made a significant on-air blunder, mixing up political personalities with athletes.

In his segment, Smith intended to commend Texans’ wide receiver Christian Kirk for his pivotal role in Houston’s offensive surge.

Unfortunately, instead of acknowledging the wide receiver’s performance, Smith mistakenly attributed the praise to Charlie Kirk, the late founder of Turning Point USA.

‘We saw Charlie Kirk catch eight receptions for 144 yards,’ Smith said. 

Stephen A. Smith made an excruciating error during Tuesday’s episode of ESPN’s Frist Take

The ESPN analyst accidentally referred to Texans star Christian Kirk (R) as Charlie Kirk (L)

The glaring error was quickly spotted by First Take host Shae Peppler Cornette, who immediately corrected the longtime sports analyst. 

Smith, clearly mortified by the error, swiftly backtracked, saying: ‘I’m sorry, I apologize. Oh my God, I meant Christian Kirk.’ 

Despite Smith’s immediate effort to correct himself, the humiliating mix-up didn’t go unnoticed by viewers who shared their stunned reactions on social media. 

‘Oh yea this an all timer,’ one user posted, responding to a clip of the incident. 

‘Bro I jus f***ing busted out laughing in public,’ said another, while a third added: ‘Hang it in the video section of the Louvre.’

‘He saw his career flash before his eyes,’ one viewer claimed, while another said that ‘this gotta be a top 5 Stephen A clips of all time.’

‘Charlie Kirk catching 8 receptions for 144 yards is a sentence I never thought I’d hear in 2026,’ wrote another with a subtle reference to Charlie Kirk’s death last September. 

‘This what happen when you have too many interest. Intermingled,’ claimed one social media user, seemingly blaming Smith’s recent ramped-up interest in politics and his hints at running for office.

Christian Kirk racked up an impressive 144 receiving yards to help Houston beat the Steelers

Christian Kirk, along with Woody Marks, helped lift CJ Stroud and the Texans to victory amid the young quarterback’s three turnovers in Pittsburgh. 

Christian racked up an impressive 144 receiving yards as the Texans cruised through to the divisional round of the playoffs with a 30-6 victory. 

Four months before the Texans’ win, Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of Donald Trump, was shot and killed, while hosting a Q&A event with students at Utah Valley University in September. 

The 31-year-old had been debating the issue of mass shootings involving transgender people with a student in the moment before he was shot dead, sending shockwaves across the globe.

Kirk, a married father of two, was hit by a single bullet and collapsed immediately after. He was rushed to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. 

At the time, Smith waded into the discussion surrounding the assassination of the political commentator when he hit out at Disney colleague Jimmy Kimmel. 

Kimmel was temporarily pulled off the air  by ABC over his divisive comments regarding the death of Charlie Kirk. He was later restored to the airwaves.

Disney owns both ABC and ESPN, which Smith has called home since 2003, and the sports media star hit out at Kimmel when he spoke out on the chat show host’s removal. 

Charlie Kirk pictured speaking to students in Utah moments before he was shot in the neck

Smith previously hit out at Jimmy Kimmel over his comments on Kirk’s death

‘The only thing that I would say as it pertains to Jimmy Kimmel is, where was the joke?’ Smith said on his SiriusXM show Straight Shooter. 

‘Because you’re a late-night host — and obviously that has a comedic attachment to it. Where was the joke? Obviously, it wasn’t anything funny about that.’ 

Smith signed a $100million deal with ESPN last year. But he has also become increasingly political, even floating a possible run for president.

In addition to his work with ESPN, Smith is a prominent figure at SiriusXM – hosting a daily sports show and weekly politics show – while he also hosts his own YouTube show.

Smith was asked late last year whether he ‘ever worries’ that his ESPN fans might be ‘turned off’ by his political views. But the host said he believes that, in fact, his approach ‘turns people on’ and is ‘one of the reasons’ his audience has ‘grown.’

‘I don’t worry about it because first of all, it’s politics, it’s not sports. Secondly, I don’t bring it to ESPN. Thirdly and most importantly, I think it’s important to remember that I’m a reasonable human being,’ Smith said.

‘What I do when I’m talking politics is what I do when I’m doing everything: I let you know how I feel and where I stand based on the facts that I have presented to me.

‘But I’m open-minded to be corrected, which means I’m willing to engage in dialogue. And I’m willing to talk with people and hear what they have to say.’

However, given his latest slip up, viewers’ concerns may only grow tenfold.  

More to follow.