Patrick Beverley has come under fire recently.
Not only did the Barstool Sports podcaster, who also plays guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, stir up controversy by throwing a ball into the stands numerous times. But the 35-year-old Beverley drew criticism for refusing an interview with an ESPN producer who did not subscribe to his The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone.
Following the release of Wednesday’s episode, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports that Beverley has been suspended by the NBA for “forcefully throwing a basketball multiple times at spectators and an inappropriate interaction with a reporter during media availability on May 2.”
While now suspended four games in part because of his interaction with her, Beverley has since personally apologized to Malinda Adams. However, he didn’t speak publicly about it until he recently released an episode of his podcast on Wednesday. He didn’t address it until about the 16-minute mark of the latest episode.
Okay let’s talk about it. @patbev21 @rone pic.twitter.com/GhlCsV5e6Z
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) May 8, 2024
Adam Ferrone (Rone), Beverley’s co-host, wanted to establish that, for the record, Beverley’s done this all season. Since Beverley has had his podcast, he’s finished every interview by telling those listening to subscribe to the pod. It’s unknown whether Beverley has made an interview contingent on a media member subscribing to his podcast previous to this incident, but this was caught on camera and plastered all over social media.
“Whether the person is male or female, whether they’re black or white, whether they’re old or young…Well, I think people need their hand held because of the pearl-clutching by some of these journalists being like, ‘Pat Bev…’ They were more mad about that than the ball thrown.”
Beverley didn’t seem to want to go down that avenue.
“You know me, as soon as I see it, I’m being @’d everywhere,” he says. “I’m like, what’s going on? I saw it, and it had like 800,000 views at the time. I’m like, ‘Nah, don’t try to do me like that.’ I instantly get (Malinda Adams’) number…I call her, and I’m like, ‘Hey, I know you’re probably getting a lot of people reaching out to you, and I apologize for that. It was never my intention to disrespect you.’ We got on the phone. We laughed about it…’Pat, I really appreciate it.’
“Nah, I don’t even operate that way. But I literally have done that with the Lakers,” Beverley added. “I’ve done it with the Bulls. I’ve done it with the guy from (unidentified outlet). We had a funny — when me and him did it, it was hilarious. It was a whole thing…I go with Milwaukee people — we laugh about it. So, I was thrown way off with that. I understand it was sensitive timing at the time.
Rone again tried to steer the conversation to the “pearl-clutching” done by journalists.
“But that’s what happens when you’re in the media, though,” Beverley responded. “The fire back is a little bit more. It just happens when you’re in the media. I’m not here to go against anyone who had an opinion, you feel me? If this was vice versa, I’d have an opinion about it too. But not the fake stories about ESPN banning me.”
Beverley, of course, is referring to the Front Office Sports story, which he said he knew was fake. ESPN released a statement later blasting an “erroneous report” that they banned Beverley from their airwaves, but Michael McCarthy and FOS stood by their reporting.
“ESPN showed me so much love,” he said. “I wouldn’t be having my pod if it wasn’t for the platform ESPN gave me…I would never disrespect anything with ESPN. It’s a lot of stuff that came with it, but with all that, I still need to be better and I will. I definitely will.”
