Stephen A. Smith Apologizes for Kim Kardashian 'Prostitute' Tweet

Stephen A. Smith deleted a tweet where he rhetorically asked if Kim Kardashian/Kris Jenner were involved in turning tricks -- despite talking about exactly that in his latest podcast.

Here's the deal ... SAS went live Friday night with the latest episode of "The Stephen A. Smith Show" -- where the ESPN personality talks about a number of issues, unrelated to sports. In the one from last night ... he decided to bring up Kim and Kris as a topic.

Specifically, he discussed a clip from back in September -- in which Candace Owens was digging into Ray J's claims that Kris brokered the infamous sex tape between him and Km.

You'll recall ... he went into all the alleged nitty-gritty about what he claims went down way back then -- saying Kris was fully privy to what they were doing, and claiming she essentially orchestrated it all behind the scenes. Ditto for Kim, he says ... alleging she was in on it too.

At the time, Candace talked about that on her own show (again, back in September) ... and she floated the blunt allegation that, in her view, Kris had operated as a "pimp" in that instance. She also called Kim a "prostitute" in that clip ... and now, for some, reason Stephen thought it'd be a good time to weigh in on this himself. Objectively, it's old news.

He got into a little bit of trouble, though ... because, in teasing this episode, he tweeted ... "Is Kim Kardashian a 'prostitute'? Is Kris Jenner a 'pimp'?" He followed that tweet up with yet another, trying to add context, in which he explained that's what Candace Owens thinks.

Unfortunately, the damage was done ... because none other than Patrick Beverly came to Kim's defense -- saying she's a mother, and that SAS shouldn't talk about her like that.

Stephen replied, saying Pat was right ... and attributing his tweet to a "clerical error." He deleted the tweet -- but the actual clip of him talking about this exact topic is still up on YouTube ... and guess what ... the dude appears to somewhat agree with Candace, assuming what Ray J says is, in fact, true ... as he clarifies in his breakdown of her argument.

His sister, who was on as a guest, also kind of agreed on that front. She said if the claims against Kris were true ... she can see where Candace was coming from. She does defend Kim though. All in all ... it's not a great look. Not only do they entertain the topic, but they seem to support Candace's take.