ESPN’s Mina Kimes ‘deeply embarrassed’ after promoting solitaire game

Stephen A. Smith wasn’t the only ESPN personality to endorse the sketchy solitaire app.

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.

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.

“The truth is: I didn’t spend any time looking into the whole thing, and that’s 100% on me,” Kimes posted on X. “Thought it was just typical marketing work, and I’m deeply embarrassed I didn’t vet it. A colossal f–k-up on my part.”

Kimes then posted about her involvement with the app again on Bluesky, saying, “Haven’t been paid a dime (we’ll see what happens now!!) but [if] I do I’m certainly giving it away.”

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.

Ex-ESPN analyst Michelle Beadle publicly called out Smith’s ambassadorship with Papaya Gaming, ripping him for his involvement.

“It’s not secret how I feel about that human,” she said on the “Beadle and Decker” podcast on Thursday.

“Honestly, I’m not a religious person, but I pray for the downfall. I really do,” Beadle added. “It’s gross, man. You gotta have principles in this thing.”

Smith’s partnership with the app 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.

On Monday, Smith posted an AI-generated ad which poked fun at his viral moment to promote Solitaire Cash.

“ESPN pays him a gazillion dollars to get a lot of stuff wrong and yell,” Beadle said. “He gets caught playing solitaire during the NBA freaking Finals, the thing he’s an expert in.

“He made you look like fools for handing him a blank check in the first place, because doesn’t even give a s–t about the stuff that he’s paid a gazillion dollars to talk about. Now he’s turning around and turning that into a money-making opportunity… and it looks like a fraudulent crap business to begin with.”