Michelle Beadle is one of the more interesting sports broadcasters of her generation.
Unlike Katie Nolan, who was never successful but still somehow to get promoted endlessly, Beadle was actually immensely popular during her first stint at ESPN.
She hosted “SportsNation” from 2009 through 2012 before leaving for NBC Sports at the peak of her popularity. Unfortunately, due to the fact that nobody knew what channel NBC Sports was on, her fame inevitably waned.
Beadle eventually came back to ESPN in 2014 and resumed hosting “SportsNation,” before eventually landing as host of “NBA Countdown.” She would later leave the company again in 2019 after a weird, semi-politicized run where she expressed some genuinely weird views about not watching to watch football.
Nowadays she’s hosting a podcast, it would appear.
During a recent conversation with Paul Pierce on her podcast, Beadle made the surprising revelation that LeBron James once tried to get her fired.
Apparently, according to Beadle, he didn’t like her making fun of him for The Decision.
Michelle Beadle says LeBron James tried to get her fired from ESPN: pic.twitter.com/MtzGBr5P5u
— The IC Workstation (@ClippelBoardy) November 19, 2021
“There was a rumor that [LeBron] got you fired from ESPN,” Pierce said.
“He tried,” Beadle replied. “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.”
Given how many people made fun of James for The Decision, it’s a bit surprising that Beadle’s response is that one that evoked his ire the most.
Yikes. https://t.co/2Yr0Ns5Wd1
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 19, 2021
That said, in addition to being a famously bad tipper, he is also notoriously thin-skinned. So maybe it’s not that surprising.
It will be interesting to see if James ultimately comes out and comments on these claims one way or another. If he doesn’t, his silence can’t be construed as anything other than tacit admission that Beadle is telling the truth.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
