Stephen A. Smith had a gracious reaction when Shannon Sharpe got upset at himself for another ‘Skip’ mix-up

Stephen A. handled it so well.

Shannon Sharpe made his debut on ESPN’s First Take last week after spending seven years debating alongside Skip Bayless on FS1’s Undisputed. And some habits are tough to break after seven years.

In his first show — which was a massive ratings success — Sharpe made the mistake of addressing Stephen A. Smith as “Skip.” After all, it made sense. Sharpe had so many repetitions with debating Bayless that a slip-up seemed inevitable.

But when it happened again a week later, Sharpe was upset with himself, and that frustration clearly showed during Tuesday’s edition of First Take. Yet, it was great to see how Smith handled the mistake.

As nauseating as it can be to watch performative sports debate on TV, ESPN makes a huge investment in Smith for a reason. He’s a pro, and he jumped in there to pick up his new colleague. Smith knows first hand what it was like to spend years debating against Bayless, and on live TV, people misspeak.

Rather than piling on Sharpe for the repeated error, Smith was gracious and helped Sharpe get back on track in the discussion. Viewers particularly enjoyed how Smith handled that situation.