"He wanted me fired": Former ESPN host accuses LeBron James of trying to get her axed and calls him 'super petty'
Over his illustrious 20-year NBA career, LeBron James has been praised by the majority of fans, players, coaches, executives and TV analysts.
However, not all basketball people like him and he doesn't see eye-to-eye with a lot of them. Fox Sports' Skip Bayless has repeatedly criticized him, even though LeBron James has never publicly addressed the analyst.
Michelle Beadle is a former ESPN host who isn't a fan of James, either. She ran the NBA Countdown for three years (2016-2019) before leaving the company.
Beadle, who was also the host of SportsNation in the early 2010s, once said that LeBron James wanted her out of ESPN. Beadle said she initially had no idea why the four-time champion wanted that. Yet, she thought it was because of her comments on James' "The Decision" in 2010.
In 2022, Michelle Beadle told Renee Paquette on the Sessions Podcast:
"I made fun of The Decision, and I was one of about a bazillion people that did. This was a long time ago, I guess when I followed him, and I got a DM that was, ‘Why are you so mean to me on television?’ And I just sort of laughed it off, I didn’t even think about it. Of course I took it personally, it was personal, he wanted me fired, he tried to do that.
"But then I found out after the fact, when all of this sort of came out, I would get messages or texts or videos from people being like, that kind of s*** was happening to them too. He was super petty and he would try to have some sort of an effect, whether it would be small or whatever, just an effect."
Michelle Beadle explains how her ESPN bosses responded when LeBron James wanted her out
Michelle Beadle said that the "King" wanted another person to be in charge of the show, not Beadle. Still, the former host retained her position on the show even though LeBron James wanted her out. And she was happy about that. She said while appearing on the House of Strauss podcast with Ethan Straus:
"I think he had a person at the network that he wanted to be the host of it. He does not like me, and I honestly have stopped trying to figure out why. For some reason, it goes back years. I've been around Maverick Carter, he refused to shake my hand. I have no idea why.
"What I do care about is how my bosses respond, because that really at the end of the day is where any loyalty should have been. It is what it is. He didn't get me fired, so I do take solace in that. And the person he wanted didn't get the job, so at the end of the day, we all win."
The LA Lakers superstar has never shared his thoughts on this issue and if at actually happened. At the end, Michelle Beadle left ESPN, and it wasn't LeBron James who forced her out of the company.
Beadle wasn't on the same page with a few of her colleagues and especially those who had power in the organization, and she believes that was the main reason for her parting ways with ESPN.