Michael Kay jokingly invited DMX to record a song for YES Network, only to be informed DMX is no longer available.
Thursday night, YES Network’s David Cone gave the scouting report for starting pitcher Cam Schlittler by using three songs. One of those songs was “X Gon’ Give It To Ya,” to which Joe Girardi suggested he should sing the lyrics. But Kay had a better idea, YES Network should get X to come perform it himself.
You can hear the moment Michael Kay finds out DMX passed away 5 years ago, this was so awkward😭 pic.twitter.com/1oAhGfuJrW
— joe (@BurdenBurner) June 25, 2026
“We’ve got a big enough budget that we could get DMX to do the second one, in person,” Kay joked. But the joke seemed more about it being unrealistic that YES would actually pay DMX to come perform in person, and less about the real reason why it was impossible for him to perform anywhere in person.
“He’s available?” Cone asked.
After a brief pause, Kay hilariously answered, “Yeah, he’s not available, unfortunately.” And he’s not available because DMX died more than five years ago.
This one was less egregious than the time Rex Ryan forgot Dwayne Haskins died, or when Stephen A. Smith appeared to forget Hank Steinbrenner passed. And to be fair to Kay, there is absolutely no way he wasn’t aware DMX died at the time of his passing. It was almost certainly discussed on The Michael Kay Show, ESPN New York’s afternoon radio program at the time, hosted by Kay, Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg. Rosenberg even notably helped organize Hot 97’s Summer Jam concert that year, which was a tribute to DMX.
But five years later, Michael Kay briefly appeared to forget why DMX would not be available to record a song for YES Network’s Yankee broadcast.