'Vacation or 'punishment'?' ESPN's Stephen A. Smith suspended for a week

Looks like Stephen A. Smith will have to find another outlet where he can muse about the role domestic violence victims play in their abuse. At least for a little while:

From ESPN PR: “ESPN announced today that Stephen A. Smith will not appear on First Take or ESPN Radio for the next week."

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) July 29, 2014

BREAKING: ESPN suspends Stephen A. Smith one week for comments he made on domestic violence. He'll be back on air next Wednesday – spox

— Ryan Parker (@TheRyanParker) July 29, 2014

Viewers can’t help but wonder:

@richarddeitsch vacation or "punishment"?

— Alexandre RAFFALLI (@AlexRaffalli) July 29, 2014

@richarddeitsch Smells like a vacation masked as "punishment".

— John Payant (@jpayant70) July 29, 2014

@richarddeitsch is that a paid suspension

— HI MY NAME IS JARED (@Irishfootball11) July 29, 2014

@richarddeitsch hmmmm.. did he take vacation time or get suspended?

— Jake (@Jake_Ruhestand) July 29, 2014

@richarddeitsch OK, but is he still being paid?

— Jeff Nahill (@Jeff_Nahill) July 29, 2014

Some are suggesting that Smith got off pretty easy:

@richarddeitsch from ESPN PR: Stephen A. Smith is grounded and will not get any dessert after dinner

— Ursus Maije Solitarius (@ursusmaije) July 29, 2014

@richarddeitsch they grounded him, how cute.

— Chris Coddington (@_Cod) July 29, 2014

@richarddeitsch: Wow. A whole week. I am blown away by the sincerity and thoughtfulness of ESPN's response.

— Andrew Bare (@HalfwayToHobo) July 29, 2014

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@TheRyanParker @latimessports that's it , one week ?

— Manny Delgado (@GPZY) July 29, 2014

Looks that way. We’ll find out more soon enough.

I'll have a story up soon with some additional reporting on ESPN pulling Stephen A. Smith for a week.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) July 29, 2014

Here’s something else to think about in the meantime:

https://twitter.com/AaronBlakeWP/status/494220487942483968

@richarddeitsch @shalisemyoung that seems weird. For what he said, which was wrong, his punishment is HALF of Rice's for the assault itself

— #BlackLivesMatter (@Eli_Vanto) July 29, 2014

So @stephenasmith will miss half the time that Ray Rice will miss?

— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) July 29, 2014

Huh.

@jimgeraghty @stephenasmith Perfect, isn't it?

— Matthew DesOrmeaux ⚜ (@authoridad) July 29, 2014

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Related:

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith deletes tweets on domestic abuse and ‘provoking the wrong actions’