News broke earlier this week that longtime co-host Max Kellerman would be leaving ESPN’s “First Take” and that he would start a new show on that network that will be titled “This Just In.”

Almost immediately, rumors of dissension between Kellerman and co-host Stephen A. Smith followed, and Smith addressed those rumors this week in an interview on HOT 97.

“Well the rumor is accurate in terms of me wanting him off the show,” Smith said. “Let’s get that out the way. Yes, I did. We don’t have a bad relationship. I think he’s a real good guy. I appreciate what he did for the show. We were No. 1 for 5 years. And we stayed No. 1, and I appreciate that.”

Smith added that it wasn’t his call to have Kellerman removed, but that it was his recommendation to the show’s directors and creative team.

He was also quick to point out that his opinion and the ultimate decision weren’t about Kellerman as much as they were about the future of the highly popular show.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is the work that goes into doing the show every single day but also the fact that it’s a chemistry that you have and sometimes it just stalls,” Smith explained. “And the audience lets you know that it is what it is and you feel the need for something fresh, the need to re-tool.

“It wasn’t really about asking him to be off the show, it was about that fact I knew that we together, as far as I was concerned, wasn’t a great partnership anymore, and that was something that needed to change.”