Jalen Rose Possibly Shades & Calls Stephen A. Smith: "Fake Troll"

Source: Scott Legato / Getty

Jalen Rose has the Internet abuzz with some recent tweets about “America’s Team,” aka the Dallas Cowboys. And since he mentioned a particular unnamed “fake troll,” fans immediately theorized Rose might be taking shots at fellow ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, who has been known to rip on Dak Prescott and the Cowboys.

The retired NBA-hooper-turned-sports-analyst made comments alluding to other analysts who acted as if they were not on the Dallas bandwagon before their premature playoffs exit this weekend.

“So glad I didn’t make a career of content pretending to fake troll the Cowboys,” he wrote Monday evening. “Praying [sic] on the audience being dumb/lazy and low hanging fruit. No @ needed. Damn near all shows selling clowns this like it’s quality content. You da fool.”

Smith and Rose have been linked in the past over rumors that the famously outspoken host of ESPN’s First Take played a role in Rose’s divorce from First Take co-host Molly Qerim over a year ago. In fact, Smith shared how Qerim was the no. 1 thing he was thankful for in November 2021, and then Rose and Qerim happened to announce their split one month later.

But Rose shot that story down in his April 2022 interview with GQ. “Not only speculating—in particular saying it was because her and Stephen A. Smith had a relationship,” he told the publication. “And, like, unequivocally, I’m not here to speak for what he does in his personal life or what [Molly] does in her personal life, I got love for both of them. We still 100. I would just say that for people who thought we parted ways because they have a relationship… That is not why we split.”

So who exactly was Rose talking about with his posts? He made sure to clear things up by Tuesday afternoon. “[Stephen A. Smith] is my brother and this is not accurate,” Rose said in his follow-up tweet. “If anything it was for Mr 1.4ppg playing JV as a junior.”

Watch the video to learn about Rose’s longstanding beef with another former First Take regular — and current frenemy of Shannon Sharpe — FOX Sports 1 analyst Skip Bayless.

See how Twitter’s reacting to the beef below.

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