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Without question, Stephen A. Smith is the biggest star at ESPN today. But it wasn’t always that way, and Michelle Beadle, who preceded Smith first at ESPN and now at SiriusXM radio, harbors little in the way of fuzzy feelings toward her new replacement.
“It’s a reminder: We’re just all pieces of s— to someone. If you forgot, there it is,” Beadle told Front Office Sports in an interview discussing the sports media landscape.
Beadle’s comments were, more broadly, about how replaceable everyone in the industry is currently. But when asked about Smith, whom she has a long-standing feud with, replacing her on the airwaves, the former ESPN star did not hold back.
Michelle Beadle Says Stephen A. Smith Beef Dates Back To Ray Rice Incident
“I don’t respect him. I don’t respect his work. He doesn’t like me. This goes back to the Ray Rice stuff. He made some really piggish comments on the air. I responded; he got suspended for like two weeks. I think that was sort of the beginning of the end for anything,” she says. “I just don’t respect him. I think he gets things wrong all the time. I’m not talking about opinions; those can never be wrong. But factually, when you spread yourself so thin, it’s hard to be right. Not a fan.”
Beadle’s beef with Smith shouldn’t come as a surprise. She rose to fame as a cohost with Colin Cowherd on ESPN 2’s “SportsNation” and spent nearly a decade with the network (with a brief stint at NBC in the middle). During that time, she was unafraid of voicing her displeasure with several colleagues.
Smith, meanwhile, can be extremely adversarial in his own right. In fact, some would say that beefing with athletes and fellow members of the sports media has become Smith’s brand in recent years. That includes an ongoing feud with soon-to-be coworker Charles Barkley.
While ESPN would prefer everyone get along, it’s not uncommon for TV personalities to rub one another the wrong way. Especially in an era of television where made-for-TV drama has seemingly surpassed sports journalism in the eyes of ESPN executives.
What is surprising, however, is how comfortable Beadle was airing her grievances. She has three months remaining on her contract with SiriusXM. Although Beadle told Front Office Sports she imagines she’ll negotiate a buyout long before that point.
Where she ends up next is anyone’s guess.