Polarizing ESPN host Michelle Beadle negotiating exit from network: report
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Michelle Beadle is set to exit ESPN, according to the New York Post.
The paper reported that the "NBA Countdown" host and ESPN are “negotiating a buyout” that would “end her time at the company.”
ESPN declined to comment when reached by Fox News. Beadle’s agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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ESPN personality Michelle Beadle is negotiating an exit from the network, according to the New York Post. (Photo by Pierre Suu/Getty Images)
The Post reported Beadle makes $5 million per year and “there will be a sliding scale to balance the amount of money she will receive with the freedom she will be granted upon her exit.”
Beadle -- who declared that she was finished watching football due to the NFL's response to several domestic violence controversies and once told white men to “shut up and listen" -- was considered a rising star at ESPN under former network President John Skipper, who left that position in late 2017 when a drug dealer attempted to extort him by using his cocaine habit against him.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DITCHING POLITICS-FIRST SPORTSCASTERS WORKING OUT FOR ESPN, NETWORK BOSS SAYS
Skipper’s successor, Jimmy Pitaro, quickly declared that he wanted fewer politics on his airwaves and Beadle’s role abruptly shifted.
“Without question, our data tells us our fans do not want us to cover politics,” Pitaro told Los Angeles Times television and media reporter Stephen Battaglio earlier this year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Beadle joined Jalen Rose and Mike Greenberg as co-hosts of ESPN's morning show “Get Up!” when it launched in April 2018. Just four months later, ESPN removed Beadle from the program, giving her a contract extension and an expanded role on the network’s NBA coverage.
Beadle relocated from New York to Los Angeles as part of the move.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Post sports media reporter Andrew Marchand noted that Beadle “could try to do something smaller” such as a podcast or re-unite with Skipper at streaming service DAZN, where he is now executive chairman.
“DAZN is international, and Beadle was born in Italy. She may have to brush up on her Italian, but there is an idea that she could possibly do some work in English and Italian if she ends up at DAZN,” Marchand wrote. “However you look at it, she will be leaving ESPN with a lot of dinero.”