It’s easy to call Stephen A. Smith out for his brutal Shohei Ohtani take on social media. But doing it right to his face, on his own show, is next level. And that’s exactly what ESPN’s MLB Insider Jeff Passan did Tuesday morning on First Take.

“Shohei Ohtani came to this country at 23-years-old…he left behind everything he knows to go and pursue the American Dream,” Passan said. “And he is the sort of person who this show and who this network and who this country should embrace. We are not the ones who should be trafficking in ignorance.”

On Monday, Smith was critical of Ohtani for not speaking English during public interviews. “I don’t think it helps that the number one face, is a dude that needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he’s saying, in THIS COUNTRY,” Smith said of the Japanese-born MLB superstar.

After initial reluctance, Smith Tuesday’s First Take by with an apology before Passan joined the show.

“The reality about Shohei Ohtani, Stephen A., is that he is a story that we should be wanting to tell,” Passan continued. “It’s unfortunate that something like yesterday happened, but this gives us the opportunity to come out here today and talk about what Shohei Ohtani is doing.”

“It’s not that Shohei Ohtani doesn’t speak English publicly and that people don’t embrace him. It’s that if people don’t embrace him publicly because he doesn’t speak English, they’re the problem,” Passan added as a direct counter to Smith’s claim from Monday.

Definitely next level.

On Tuesday, radio host Ty Smith appeared on Fox News to talk about critical race theory allegedly being taught in schools and at one point claimed slavery “never was a race thing.”

Host Martha MacCallum said that university professors are “very invested in the idea that the nation was founded on the idea of systemic racism, that it’s built into every single institution in America.”

“It’s absolutely absurd because nobody really wants to get the real history of it,” said Smith.

He continued, saying, "Yeah, there was slavery going on, but slavery itself was not initially a racist thing. It never was about race initially. So to sit there and take it like America was founded on racism is a complete lie."

Apparently out of time, MacCallum thanked Smith before ending the interview. She did not offer anhy objection or pushback.

Later on, Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederate States of America espoused the view shared by many slaveholders throughout the centuries that slavery is the “natural condition” of Black people.

It's not just that Smith's view is in general offensive, or that saying "slavery isn't racist" gets on air and with no pushback on Fox. It's not even just the universal condemnation of the comments.

This was a losing moment because the outrageous comment didn't even serve its own purpose. If anything, it undermined the segment objective - to decry CRT - and instead gave an excellent reason for supporting the theory in education. Because, clearly, there is work still to be done.