Michelle Beadle couldn’t help but laugh over LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith feuding in the public eye.
The former host of ESPN’s “NBA Countdown,” who previously had her own gripes with James, explained that the situation seems fake — especially after the Lakers star appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” Wednesday to address it.
“This feels like a WWE situation at this point,” Beadle said Thursday on the “Run It Back” show on FanDuel TV. “There’s no coincidence. It’s Pat McAfee who’s now one of the faces of WWE, alright, he’s hosting this. LeBron James goes on there for over and hour on the very network where the dude he confronted in public also is the highest-paid guy on the network.
“All of it feels fake to me. Within 5 minutes of this thing becoming public, Stephen A. Smith is now putting out videos.”
Smith and James have been feuding publicly since the four-time NBA champ confronted the “First Take” host face-to-face during the Lakers’ overtime win against the Knicks in Los Angeles on March 6.
The Lakers superstar was upset with comments Smith made about his son, Bronny James, on ESPN in January — when Smith addressed James “as a father” and asked him to stop exposing his 20-year-old son as an illegitimate NBA player.
During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” Thursday, James addressed the incident for the first time publicly and said that Smith made it personal — and is “on a Taylor Swift tour run” talking about the situation.
James claimed he only spoke publicly about it because a video of their court-side confrontation went viral.
Beadle — who’s said years ago that James tried to have her fired at ESPN — particularly enjoyed that one.
“Chef’s kiss!” said Beadle, who left ESPN in 2019. “That video [of the confrontation] James was one of the greatest things that ever happened to Stephen A. because he has milked it and he has gone on every network and outlet and continues to talk about it.”
Beadle scoffed at the thought of choosing between Smith and James.
She added that James’ comments about ESPN NBA reporter Brian Windhorst — James said Windhorst claims they are best friends — were unnecessary.
“We have entered a really weird realm,” Beadle said. “I think where LeBron lost a lot of people from Wednesday’s interview — because Stephen A, who cares — but when you go after Brian Windhorst who’s been covering him since he’s a kid, since he was like a high schooler.
“I didn’t really get it. It felt very unprovoked, unnecessary, a bit bullying I guess if you will.”
