Stephen A. Smith took time on ESPN’s First Take to address the sudden departure of his co-host, Molly Qerim.

“She's been an enormous part of our success for a decade. Not only did she keep me and many others in line, she did it with dignity, class, and kindness to say the least,” Smith said in the show’s opening monologue on Tuesday (Sept. 16).

On the “Stephen A. Smith Show,” he shared that Qerim was in contract negotiations with ESPN, who hoped she would stay with the network.

“To say that I’m quite sad about it is an understatement,” Smith said. “Molly is a friend. Molly is a co-worker. Molly is somebody that I’ve leaned on on many occasions in the past, as she has done when it comes to me. We’ve been partners on the show for the last 10 years, and a lot of times, some of these things happen, and it’s just uncomfortable to see.”

“The details, quite frankly, are none of y’all’ business. It’s not as if I know all the details. It was a contract negotiation that was going on,” Smith continued. “ESPN certainly did not want to lose her. But in the end, she made her decision to walk away from the show effective immediately.”

Smith went on to claim that he was surprised by Qerim's abrupt decision.

“To be blunt, it came as a shock. I was not aware that this is something that she was contemplating doing. But in the end, she made her decision, and we have to move on as a show,” Smith continued. 

“I don’t like it. I’m not happy about it because I appreciate her and what she has meant to me, and what she has meant to the show, and what she has meant to the business. And I’m going to miss her. It’s just that simple,” he added.

Qerim first began her tenure at ESPN in 2006, where she worked on digital and mobile content before becoming the interactive host for College Football Live and a breaking news reporter for Fantasy Football Now, for which she won an Emmy. 

She then left ESPN, working for CBS Sports and the NFL Network, before returning to ESPN in 2015 to host “First Take.”