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Stephen A. Smith Has Message For Ex-ESPN Host Michelle Beadle

Originally posted on The Spun | By Chris Rosvoglou | Last updated Jun 5, 2025 2:42 PM ET

Michelle Beadle let the world know this week that she doesn't respect ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.

Smith, who is currently the face of ESPN's "First Take," has agreed to a multiyear partnership with SiriusXM. As part of this deal, he'll get to host two shows. One will be a daily show on Mad Dog Sports Radio, while the other will be a "weekly current events, pop culture and social commentary-focused show" on a separate SiriusXM channel.

In order to make room for Smith's sports show, SiriusXM has handed him an afternoon timeslot that belongs to Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker. Believe it or not, they weren't even given a warning about this decision.

"Yeah so the cat's out of the bag, I guess we're talking about it. We weren't supposed to, just as a heads up. We were only given a few hours notice but we weren't told any details, we were promised that no details would be released," Beadle said. "We didn't even know who was taking our place in the lineup, just that it was going to be announced that a new show was being added. Unbeknownst to us, 'The Hollywood Reporter,' of course, had all the details. So it was a little embarrassing, I'm not going to lie. I've been in this business for 20-plus years, I've been treated poorly a couple times, this didn't feel good, I'm not gonna lie."

In a follow-up interview with Front Office Sports, Beadle made it clear that she's not a fan of Smith.

"I don’t respect him," Beadle said. "I don’t respect his work. He doesn’t like me. This goes back to the Ray Rice stuff. He made some really piggish comments on the air. I responded; he got suspended for like two weeks. I think that was sort of the beginning of the end for anything,” she says. “I just don’t respect him. I think he gets things wrong all the time. I’m not talking about opinions; those can never be wrong. But factually, when you spread yourself so thin, it’s hard to be right. Not a fan."

On Wednesday night, Smith called into the evening VSiN Live program on SiriusXM to share his side to the story.

Smith didn't mention Beadle by name, but he addressed this idea that he intentionally snubbed her show.

"I want to state for the record just so everyone knows what kind of man I am and what kind of teammate I am. I had no idea that folks did not know. I was told by SiriusXM to wait until this morning on The Howard Stern Show to make the announcement. Whatever communication they had with anybody who’s there, where they’re staying, where they’re being moved to. Who’s staying, who’s going or whatever. It’s none of my business," Smith said, via Awful Announcing.

"But let me be very, very clear. It would always be my concern because I would never in a million years be unprofessional and inconsiderate of a contemporary or a colleague. If somebody was not made aware of my arrival, meaning the people that directly would be impacted by my arrival on SiriusXM, it is something that I would have made sure of. So I just want to let anybody out there who was listening, along with you all know, I’m proud to be back. I’m happy to be back and be part of the team. But that operative word is team. The people I work with are my teammates. And I don’t do stuff like that. Whatever management and the bosses at SiriusXM have decided to do is their business. That has nothing to do with me. But as it pertains to what has something to do with me, that is not something I would ever do."

Smith might be taking a team approach, but is the rest of the SiriusXM crew willing to play ball? We'll see.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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