Michelle Beadle’s ESPN return has been confirmed after she made some negative comments about her NBC The Crossover TV show.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , WWE Diva wrestler AJ Lee almost blew up after Michelle Beadle called her boyfriend CM Punk a “f*ck face.” Funnily enough, Beadle seemed to think that was a good way to say a friendly hello to a supposedly old friend.
Apparently, she also managed to get into trouble with NBC executives by being a little too candid with what she thought about management. NBC officially canceled The Crossover because they wanted to create a “vertical programming block” to focus on the NHL. But this is how Beadle announced the end:
“Crossover is donzo. Thanks 2 the crew who tried their damnedest. I’ll let ya know what’s next.”
But this comment didn’t jive with NBC’s announcement, which claimed the “production team [will be] continuing their work on other NBC Sports Group properties.” The background story is allegedly more nasty than that, with Beadle and executive producer Sam Flood supposedly butting heads over the lack of decent marketing for The Crossover . Then she had the audacity to publicly complain during a Sports Media Watch podcast:
“I love what we’re doing now, but then again I’m not an idiot. I realize we’re on a network that is new and struggling and we don’t get a lot of promotion. So I kind of battle with that every day. Do I fight the good fight and promote the show on my own? Do I just give up and act like a whiny person? It’s interesting, but we have such a good crew and they work hard.”
At the time, the number Michelle Beadle’s Twitter followers apparently exceeded the viewers of her show. While she hated the idea of being self-promoting she thought there might be some way to turn that in her favor. Still, she also complained about being put on the “backburner” when every other type of sport was playing on NBC:
“I didn’t really get into having my own show to always be put on the backburner. It’s frustrating. It’s hard to get to some sort of regularity, the times change and we’re all over the place … [the show airs] every day except days when sailing, soccer and/or bike racing [are on].”
Flood didn’t like hearing this and decided to pour out his wrath (you know… like a flood). He first told the New York Times he was pulling the plug, then called Beadle into a meeting. She didn’t find out her show was gone until she left and logged onto Twitter to find out the bad news. NBC also claimed she’d be reassigned to shows focused on horse racing but those assignments never materialized, either.
Ever since then, rumors of Michelle Beadle’s ESPN return have been floating around. She left the company on good terms, so everyone assumed it was a matter of time. And now it’s official, with sources saying she’ll leave NBC sports in early March and will then “host or co-host a New York-based show with another ESPN talent at some point.” There’s also the possibility she’ll be on SportsNation .