Stephen A. Smith has officially ended his relationship with Papaya Gaming, the company behind the real-money app Solitaire Cash, which he and several other ESPN personalities had been promoting on social media.
Smith confirmed the split to Front Office Sports, saying he and Papaya “mutually agreed to end our partnership.”
His exit follows ESPN instructing Dan Orlovsky, Kendrick Perkins, Mina Kimes, and Laura Rutledge to cut their ties with Papaya several weeks ago. According to FOS, ESPN executives in Bristol weren’t briefed on or asked to approve the marketing campaign before it went live. The network let Smith, its highest-paid star, make his own decision on his own timeline rather than issuing him a direct order like the others received.
Mina Kimes was the first to publicly bail on the partnership in early November, posting on X that she hadn’t properly vetted the company before agreeing to promote it. She called it “a colossal f*ck-up” on her part and said she was deeply embarrassed. Orlovsky and Rutledge quietly deleted their promotional posts without public statements. Perkins’ posts eventually came down too. Smith kept his up longer, either working through a more complex exit from his deal or simply operating with more autonomy than his colleagues.
The partnership began Nov. 3, when Papaya named Smith “global ambassador” for its World Solitaire Championship in Miami next February. The company explicitly tied the deal to Smith being spotted playing solitaire on his phone during Game 4 of the NBA Finals in June. Smith launched a #BeatStephen challenge on social media, encouraging his millions of followers to download the app and try to top his scores, while other ESPN personalities followed with their own promotional posts as part of the campaign.
In mid-November, Smith addressed the situation on his podcast, noting his team was reviewing the allegations and emphasizing that he doesn’t support companies engaged in fraudulent gaming practices. He officially ended the partnership just two weeks after a federal judge dismissed Papaya’s counterclaims against rival gaming company Skillz on Nov. 21.