Subscribe
Cassius Life Featured Video
CLOSE
Paul Pierce opens up about his firing from ESPN

Source: Boston Globe / Getty

The former-professional-athlete-turned-analyst pipeline is strong until you remember you technically work for Disney and need a filter.

Boston Celtic Legend Paul Pierce learned that the hard way when he decided to go on Instagram Live in 2021 while smoking weed and having strippers dancing in the background.

He was swiftly let go from his ESPN hosting duties, and he’s finally opening up on losing the gig. Pierce appeared on the I Am Athlete podcast and still thinks he did nothing wrong and that he was fired for harmlessly living his life.

At one point in the show, co-hosts Brandon Marshall, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson joked about Pierce posting the video “on your day off,” referencing the John Witherspoon and Ice Cube scene from the classic Friday film.

“I got fired for what?” Pierce asked. “I got fired for having some entertainment. I’m playing cards. It’s my boy’s birthday. It’s girls dancing. We’re blowing some tree. What did I do wrong?”

He continues, explaining that his background just so happened to be filled with scantily clad women.

“I don’t ever go live either, I was just feeling my [hair] cut or something, and then it was popping behind me,” Pierce said.

Pierce explains that after the IG live, a higher-up at ESPN informed him an investigation was launched and asked him what was going on in the video, to which he responded that it was “self-explanatory.”

“At the end of the day, it’s Disney, and they have a morals clause, and they just said it was immoral,” he explained.

Paul admitted that he was the one filming the video that got him in hot water, and the hosts remarked that it was similar to Ja Morant’s gun-toting strip club video in March.

See how Twitter’s reacting to Pierce finally explaining the story behind his ESPN firing below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.