Michelle Beadle Says LeBron Messaged Her After She Made Fun of 'The Decision' and Tried to Get Her Fired From ESPN

Sports Illustrated — Last year, Michelle Beadle claimed that LeBron James wanted her fired from ESPN, dating back years. Beadle hosted SportsNation on the network with Colin Cowherd for three years from 2009 to ’12, and she returned as the host of NBA Live a few years later.

While appearing on “The Sessions” podcast with Renee Paquette, Beadle explained she thinks James’s animosity for her dates back to The Decision. 

“I made fun of The Decision, and I was one of about a bazillion people that did,” she said. “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,” she said. “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.”

If this isn't the perfect encapsulation of LeBron James, I don't know what is. The guy who has probably close to a billion dollars still DMs media members who say the slightest chirp about him wanting to know how anyone could dare not be his biggest fan and then tries to get them fired for good measure. I'd be willing to guess Michelle Beadle is not the only person to whom LeBron has done something similar to this.

If you're talking strictly on the court, I understand how people could appreciate what LeBron has been able to do in his career. He's the second-best basketball player out of all the humans who have ever lived. That's extremely impressive.

But in every other context in which we see or hear from LeBron — and he makes sure it's as many as possible — he's whiny, disingenuous and generally could be described as what the kids are calling a baby back bitch. He interjects himself into things that otherwise would not involve him at all and unnecessarily makes himself look bad.

I hated to hear this story. I wish LeBron would be willing to get out of his own way and quit acting like an asshole, but it seems he is simply unable to do that. Sad.