Celtics legend Paul Pierce is long removed from his successful NBA career, but he was a frequent face on ESPN until not too long ago.
In an infamous Instagram Live video, Pierce recorded himself drinking and smoking with friends (and women) during a birthday party. Of course, the footage came back to haunt Pierce as he was fired not long after its release. On the ‘I AM ATHLETE’ podcast, the Truth finally spoke about that experience and ultimately explained why ESPN let him go despite not doing anything wrong in the eyes of the law.
“I got fired for having some entertainment. I’m playing cards, it’s my boy’s birthday, it’s girls dancing and we blowing some trees. I mean, what did I do wrong? I don’t even go Live, either. I was just feeling my haircut or something and then it was popping behind me. But the hood was feeling me.”
Pierce went on to explain that, due to ESPN’s ties to Disney, they have a moral clause that he broke by broadcasting his private activities.
“So they hit me and it was a higher-up, a lady. She was like ‘We’re doing an investigation could you tell us what happened.’ I’m like, ‘You didn’t see it? I was just hanging out, playing cards, it wasn’t my house.’ It was self-explanatory. There were girls dancing, and I had some OG (cannabis). I didn’t do anything illegal. But at the end of the day, it’s Disney. So they have a morals clause and they said it was immoral.”
Paul Pierce on why ESPN cut ties with him. 😂
(via @IAMATHLETEpod)pic.twitter.com/7FNd8hzkar
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) April 10, 2023
Paul Pierce Was Never A Good Fit At ESPN
Apparently, the IG Live video was just the final straw in a long list of issues between Pierce and the ESPN network. Despite getting hired as an analyst and being featured on many shows across the network, he admitted later that he knew it wasn’t going to last long.
“The relationship between Pierce and the network had become strained over the past two years (Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated). Pierce hated the travel. Network executives didn’t think he was working hard enough. The video, industry sources told Sports Illustrated, was the last straw. ‘I was done with them, anyway,’ says Pierce. ‘It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.”
Pierce has not yet joined another sports network, but something tells me he probably prefers to be on his own anyway. At least this way, he’s free to party and post without discretion
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