Stephen A. Smith Parts Ways With Solitaire App One Month After Becoming Ambassador

It was a good run!

An AI version of Stephen A. Smith tried to play Solitaire Cash on a bicycle. / @stephenasmit

Stephen A. Smith no longer has a solitaire sponsorship, according to Front Office Sports. The news comes just a month after Smith was officially announced as an ambassador of a game called Solitaire Cash.

It all started back in June when ESPN's highest profile employee was caught playing solitaire on his phone during an NBA Finals game. Smith was defiant when people called him out for not paying attention at work saying, "for those that don't like it, kiss my a--."

Smith managed to turn that mild controversy into an endorsement opportunity as he partnered with Papaya Gaming to promote Solitaire Cash. While Smith appeared in an AI-generated commercial, some of his ESPN co-workers also got in on the action and promoted the game on social media as well.

That too came with a bit of controversy as Papaya Gaming was embroiled in a lawsuit over "false advertising and rigged games." The claim was brought by competitor Skillz Platform Inc. Papaya filed counterclaims which were thrown out of court on Nov. 21 according to FOS.

Now they've lost Stephen A. Smith. The First Take host told FOS that “Papaya and I have mutually agreed to end our partnership.”

All tweets related to promoting the game from Mina Kimes, Laura Rutledge, Kendrick Perkins and Dan Orlovsky, which were originally linked in this article from early November, have since been deleted. (ESPN apparently told them to walk away a short time later.)

On top of that. Papaya has even removed the AI ad featuring Smith from their YouTube channel—though the ad still lives on Smith's X account.

Unlike when ESPN and Penn Gaming parted ways recently, ESPN employees have not had a new app lined up where you can play solitaire for money. We will continue to monitor the situation to see if another steps forward to fill that void.

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