Former ESPN NBA Countdown host Michelle Beadle believes Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James got her fired from the show because she was critical of “The Decision.”
Beadle appeared on the “Awful Announcing Podcast” earlier this month, where she said after she was fired by ESPN and replaced by Rachel Nichols, she began to hear whispers that she was fired due to James’ anger at the criticisms.
“I found out after (I was fired),” Beadle, who now works as a broadcaster for the San Antonio Spurs, said on the podcast. “In all the chaos that ensued after I left, all this other information started coming out. I kind of got wind of it as I was leaving. And then more stuff came out and I was just like, ‘What a crap show.’
Beadle followed up, saying the four-time NBA Champion is a powerful figure across the league.
“Yeah, you know, he’s (James) a powerful dude,” Beadle said. “I mean, there’s no getting around that he is an empire and an entity upon himself. All the respect for building such a powerful entity on a name and doing it well. So yeah, people are going to listen.”
“I mean look, she’s ultimately not that powerful,” Beadle said about Nichols. “But I think some of the narrative that was being allowed to play out, specifically in the New York Post, at the time. I knew where it was coming from. We all knew where it was coming from.”
Source: Black Enterprise
