Rickey Smiley is used to jokes; he is a comedian after all. But this week, Smiley made it clear there’s a difference between playful roasting and what feels like disrespect.
The situation began last week, when ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith mispronounced the name of Omega Psi Phi while discussing fraternity culture on air. The moment quickly spread online, drawing criticism, jokes, and plenty of fraternity “inside humor.” Smith later acknowledged the mistake and took to social media to apologize.
For those unaware, the jokes were basically this: people were clowning Smith like he wasn’t truly “down” with Omega culture, and then memes started circulating that put Rickey Smiley with him, framing the two as an embarrassment for the fraternity. So now, the punchline wasn’t just Smith’s mistake; it became a witch hunt for who gets to be associated with Omega Psi Phi at all.
Smiley, a longtime member of Omega Psi Phi, became part of that online content as the memes snowballed.
In an emotional video posted this week, Smiley revealed that the viral moment happened during one of the most difficult times of the year for him: the anniversary of his son Brandon’s death.
“Today, this month, it’s a tough month for me,” he shared. “January is a tough month for me and my family… this is the week that I lost my son. And it does not get any easier.”
What hurt most, he said, wasn’t the joke itself, but who was sharing it, and when.
Smiley noted that many of the memes and comments were coming from fellow Omega men.
“They have a meme out about me and matched me with Stephen A. Smith… during this month of grief for me and my family,” he said. “Is what y’all doing friendly? Are you displaying friendship? And friendship is essential to the soul.”
Smiley stressed that the behavior he was calling out does not represent what Omega Psi Phi stands for in his eyes.
“Some Qs had me up on a meme… and they don’t represent Omega Psi Phi,” he said. His frustration, he added, wasn’t about being thin-skinned or ducking criticism. It was about what he views as misplaced priorities and selective outrage.
“All of this stuff I do low-key, underground, that a lot of people don’t know about,” he said. Then he asked those quick to joke at his expense: “Did you make memes about the Qs that killed Tyre Nichols? Did you make memes about Caleb Wilson?”
Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was fatally beaten in 2023 by five Black police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, and died three days following the incident.
Wilson, a student and band member at Southern University, died after being hazed by other students.
From there, Smiley widened his critique, calling out a performative, ego-driven version of fraternity life in which members are more concerned with status and nostalgia than with accountability and care.
“For some of y’all, that’s all y’all have,” he said. “You don’t have anything else except for that step show you won in ’92 and ’93.”
Even as he challenged his fraternity brothers, Smiley emphasized that his words were not an attack on Omega Psi Phi itself, but a defense of the values he believes it should embody.
“I have real friends in the fraternity,” he said, affirming that his disappointment comes from love for the organization and a desire to see its principles taken seriously when it matters most.
Because at the end of the day, Smiley’s message wasn’t really about memes. It was about what brotherhood looks like when it counts, and knowing when to show up with compassion and not a punchline.
