For those of you who might not know this already, ESPN employees Jalen Rose and Molly Qerim are dating. They’ve actually been dating for quite some time now—long enough for Rose to comment on the things Eminem said about Qerim on his song "Campaign Trail" back in October 2016. And their relationship status made Rose’s appearance on Qerim’s show First Take on Wednesday morning extra interesting.
At one point during the show, Rose was asked for his opinion on James Harrison's decision to sign with the Patriots this week. Harrison was until recently a member of the Steelers, which led a lot of NFL fans to accuse him of not being faithful to his former team when he signed with one of their rivals. And while you could argue both sides of that coin, Rose was quick to point out that most people are "only as faithful as their options." It was a very valid point, but it was also a point that Qerim obviously seemed to take issue with. Just check the side-eye she saved for Rose after he made his "faithful" comment.
Those watching at home were quick to pick up on the brief moment of tension between Rose and Qerim. Some praised Rose for having the—in the words of the usual First Take personality Stephen A. Smith—"unmitigated gall" to say something like that on national TV with his girlfriend sitting right next to him, while others cracked up at the idea of Rose sleeping on the couch later over what he said.
But regardless of whether Rose lands on the couch or not, he doesn’t seem to be bothered by it. Shortly after First Take went off the air, he took to Twitter to refer to the moment as "classic."
This wasn’t quiteas classic at the time Rose went on First Take armed with Skip Bayless' terrible high school basketball stats. But it was close. Watch Qerim side-eye Rose in the clip above to see for yourself.
