Michelle Beadle, the former host of NBA Countdown, has accused LA Lakers superstar LeBron James of getting her fired from the show.
Beadle began presenting the program on ESPN in 2016 before her stint with the show was cut short after three years in 2019.
The 47-year-old, who now works at Sirius XM, left the broadcasting company following several stints amid controversy as she claimed that James had called for her to be removed from NBA Countdown.
‘I found out after (I was fired),’ Beadle said in an interview with Awful Announcing. ‘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 c*** show”.’
She then doubled down on her suggestion that James played a role in her being removed and replaced by Rachel Nichols.
Michelle Beadle the former host of NBA Countdown, has accused LA Lakers superstar LeBron James of getting her fired
47-year-old Beadle left ESPN following several stints amid controversy in 2019
‘Yeah, you know, he’s a powerful dude. I mean, there’s no getting around that he is an empire and an entity upon himself,’ she said.
‘All the respect for building such a powerful entity on a name and doing it well. So yeah, people are going to listen.’
It is not known whether the NBA’s leading all-time points scorer did in fact play a role in her firing.
While she claimed that James had a strong input, Beadle suggested that he wasn’t the only one who wanted her ousted.
When asked if she believes Nichols had a hand in her departure, she responded: ‘I mean look, she’s ultimately not that powerful. 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.’
Beadle was replaced by Rachel Nichols (pictured) on ESPN’s NBA Countdown
Beadle has stepped into her NBA Countdown role by replacing Sage Steele, who had been caught in a storm of backlash for making conservative comments.
However, Beadle insisted that the circumstances were different, claiming she didn’t have to resort to ‘backstabbing’.
‘No, and I know that narrative was floated out there too,’ Beadle said when asked whether she campaigned for Steele to be replaced.
‘I didn’t have to. The decisions that were made had been made. I think your work should stand on its own and there shouldn’t be a bunch of backstabbing and stuff that goes on behind it. It’s not a good way to do it.’
