ESPN fires Paul Pierce after racy, wild video goes viral

ESPN has fired NBA analyst Paul Pierce, a source confirmed to The Post.

The decision was made after Pierce published racy Instagram videos on Friday, showing him smoking what appeared to be marijuana and with scantily clad women who may have been strippers.

The news was first reported by Barrett Sports Media’s Ryan Glasspiegel.

Pierce, 43, has been on a bit of a downward trajectory at ESPN but had hung on enough where he was a regular contributor to its top studio shows, “NBA Countdown” and “The Jump.” During a recent show, he went on the air and said the wrong team won. He was quickly corrected.

According to sources, ESPN was particularly miffed that Pierce chose to put the videos out of his own accord. If he had been filmed doing the same activities and they had been made public by someone else, he might have kept his job.

When the news became public Monday, Pierce went on Twitter and posted a four-second video that said, “Smile” and the message, “Big Things coming soon stay tuned make sure u smile #Truthshallsetufree.”Paul Pierce responds to ESPN firing him over racy video.

https://youtu.be/MJqhTZWfV4w

Pierce is expected to be voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

ESPN, which declined comment, has no immediate plans to replace Pierce, as it has a host of analysts it can rotate in.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.