Former NBA star Paul Pierce recently explained to Lance Armstrong what happened in his infamous ESPN firing while on Mars.
Technically, that sentence makes sense, we swear.
Pierce is currently off colonizing Mars, so to speak, as one of the cast members of Stars on Mars, a reality TV competition in which celebrities live together in a base camp meant to simulate what it would take to live on Mars. Some notable sports names in the base camp besides Pierce include Richard Sherman, Ronda Rousey, Marshawn Lynch, and Lance Armstrong.
When they’re not competing in physical and mental challenges meant to emulate their Mars survival, the cast members have downtime to chat and share stories. Pierce sat down with Armstrong in a recent episode and recounted the details of how he lost his job at ESPN back in 2021.
Pierce, who was a studio analyst for The Jump and NBA Countdown at the time, says he was playing poker at his friend’s birthday party where “there were girls just there dancing” as well as “a lot of alcohol.”
Video from the party, which showed Pierce, drinking and smoking a blunt, along with several women in bikinis twerking or massaging him, was posted on his Instagram Live account. The fallout from that video led to the Boston Celtics legend losing his ESPN gig a few days later.
https://twitter.com/THVMOE/status/1378234100067266566
“It was a big whole controversy,” the Hall of Fame player told Lance. “I mean it wasn’t nothing illegal, but it was just girls … girls shaking their ***.”
“Who put it on social media?” asked Armstrong in response.
“I accidentally did, my dumb ***,” replied Pierce.
“B****, how old are you?!” incredulously asked Armstrong in response.
Fellow contestant Tinashe said she had seen the video and that while “it’s not that bad,” the context in which it was posted made it a big deal.
“Yeah, I lost my job at ESPN over it,” said Pierce, who has recently opined that he didn’t see why he needed to be fired. “You know, we all make some mistakes. Maybe I wouldn’t be on Mars if that didn’t happen. See? Things happen for a reason.”
Bet you didn’t think you’d ever read “Maybe I wouldn’t be on Mars if that didn’t happen” when it comes to Paul Pierce and his time with ESPN.
[Fox, The Big Lead]
