An ESPN panelist who suggested Friday that women should try not to "provoke" domestic violence apologized on-air Monday for the comment, which he called "the most egregious error of my career." <br /> <br />Stephen A. Smith opened "First Take" with an apology for remarks he made while discussing the two-day suspension NFL player Ray Rice received for assaulting his then-fiancee. Much like his first apology -- a stream of tweets posted Friday that have since been deleted -- he emphasized that he failed to articulate his point and never meant to imply that domestic abuse victims were at fault. <br /> <br />"I ventured beyond the scope of our discussion by alluding to a woman's role in such heinous matters, going so far as to use the word 'provoke' in my diatribe," Smith said. “My words came across that it is somehow a woman’s fault. This was not my intent. It is not what I was trying to say. Yet the failure to clearly articulate something different lies squarely on my shoulders.” <br /> <br />The commentator went on to apologize in particular to female victims of domestic abuse and to female members of his family, whom he cited in his original remarks about provocation. <br /> <br />ESPN said it did not plan to discipline Smith for those remarks. <br /> <br />“We will continue to have constructive dialogue on this important topic," the network said in a statement, as quoted by USA Today. "Stephen’s comments last Friday do not reflect our company’s point of view. As his apology demonstrates, he recognizes his mistakes and has a deeper appreciation of our company values.” <br /> <br />It's worth noting that Friday's show was not the first time Smith had suggested women should not provoke domestic violence. He made a similar comment back in 2012 while discussing former NFL player Chad Johnson's arrest for allegedly head-butting his wife. <br /> <br />"There are plenty of instances where provocation comes into consideration, instigation comes into consideration, and I will be on the record right here on national television and say that I am sick and tired of men constantly being vilified and accused of things and we stop there," he said at the time, as quoted by Deadspin. "I'm saying, 'Can we go a step further?' Since we want to dig all deeper into Chad Johnson, can we dig in deep to her?"
