Landon Buford
Former ESPN talking head Michelle Beadle is setting the record straight on her new sports podcast ‘What did I Miss? “With The Athletic. After a two-year hiatus from the industry. On her third episode, she had recently inducted Hall of Famer Paul Pierce. The two were also colleagues during Beadle’s second stint at the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
During the episode, the two discussed Pierce being fired from ESPN after being seen on social media playing poker and partying with strippers. Beadle also touched on LeBron James’ decision in 2011 and then revealed that the future Hall of Famer tried to get her fired from ESPN.
“There was a rumor that [LeBron] got you fired from ESPN,” Pierce said.
“He tried,” Beadle responded. “He did try to do that. I was like, ‘I’m honored that I’m even on your mind. Thank you very much for that, sir. That’s a weird place for me to be.’
“My stuff with him started out not personal. I made fun of ‘The Decision’ like 400,000 other talking heads did at the time, and I think for some reason that was it. It wasn’t personal to begin with. It obviously now will always be personal. It is what it is. But I also am very comfortable with not liking people. I think that’s what makes us all healthy. It’s the people that pretend they, like everyone – you can’t trust them.”
Beadle left ESPN after receiving a buyout of her contract for $5 million after being removed from NBA Countdown in 2019, according to Andrew Marchand of the NY Post.
It was announced Beadle was hired as a “special correspondent” with the San Antonio Spurs.
“A story: In December I lost Leroy Jenkins, the greatest of all pugs,” she wrote. “I packed up and left LA. In that time, the ol’ priority list changed-to surround myself with those that make me smile…both personally & professionally. Seems easy enough. Don’t worry though, I’m still an ass.”
