{"id":366023,"date":"2025-11-09T04:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T04:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/366023\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T04:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T04:01:12","slug":"espns-mina-kimes-deeply-embarrassed-after-promoting-solitaire-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/366023\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN’s Mina Kimes ‘deeply embarrassed’ after promoting solitaire game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen A. Smith wasn\u2019t the only ESPN personality to endorse the sketchy<\/a> solitaire app.<\/p>\n

ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes took to social media on Saturday to apologize for previously advertising the app Solitaire Cash, whose parent company, Papaya Gaming, has been the target of a recent lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Papaya Gaming was found to have previously defrauded customers in real-money games of skill, with a court recently ruling that the company would place bots into games that were intended to be played by only humans, and the bots were able to determine who won or lost.<\/p>\n

\"ESPNESPN\u2019s Mina Kimes speaks before the Lions\u2019 road win over the Ravens on Sept. 22, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is: I didn\u2019t spend any time looking into the whole thing, and that\u2019s 100% on me,\u201d Kimes posted on X<\/a>. \u201cThought it was just typical marketing work, and I\u2019m deeply embarrassed I didn\u2019t vet it. A colossal f\u2013k-up on my part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimes then posted about her involvement with the app again on Bluesky<\/a>, saying, \u201cHaven\u2019t been paid a dime (we\u2019ll see what happens now!!) but [if] I do I\u2019m certainly giving it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple personalities on ESPN have endorsed the app, with Smith, Kendrick Perkins and Dan Orlovsky yet to delete their content off their social media pages.<\/p>\n

Ex-ESPN analyst Michelle Beadle publicly called out Smith\u2019s ambassadorship with Papaya Gaming, ripping him for his involvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not secret how I feel about that human,\u201d she said on the \u201cBeadle and Decker\u201d podcast on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\"StephenESPN\u2019s Stephen A. Smith reacts before the Lions\u2019 road win over the Ravens on Sept. 22, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m not a religious person, but I pray for the downfall. I really do,\u201d Beadle added. \u201cIt\u2019s gross, man. You gotta have principles in this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s partnership with the app<\/a> comes after the famed personality was caught playing solitaire on his phone during Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Thunder and Pacers, which he was covering for ESPN.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On Monday, Smith posted an AI-generated ad which poked fun at his viral moment to promote Solitaire Cash.<\/p>\n

\u201cESPN pays him a gazillion dollars to get a lot of stuff wrong and yell,\u201d Beadle said. \u201cHe gets caught playing solitaire during the NBA freaking Finals, the thing he\u2019s an expert in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made you look like fools for handing him a blank check in the first place, because doesn\u2019t even give a s\u2013t about the stuff that he\u2019s paid a gazillion dollars to talk about. Now he\u2019s turning around and turning that into a money-making opportunity\u2026 and it looks like a fraudulent crap business to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith wasn\u2019t the only ESPN personality to endorse the sketchy solitaire app. ESPN NFL analyst Mina…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":366024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5723,29586,1232,62,1486,2233,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-366023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-espn","9":"tag-michelle-beadle","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-sports-entertainment","13":"tag-stephen-a-smith","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115517750943976821","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}