Paul Pierce Unloads on ESPN After Ugly Divorce Over Stripper Video: They Make You ‘Talk About LeBron All the Time’

Although he lost a prominent gig with ESPN over the incident, Paul Pierce has no regrets about the stripper video that ultimately got him fired. In fact, the soon to be Basketball Hall-of-Fame inductee views his exit from ESPN as a bit of a blessing in disguise.

In April, the 10-time NBA All-Star went on Instagram Live while at a friend’s poker game where there was drinking, smoking and strippers. Not exactly the type of extracurricular activities that aligned with his Disney-owned employer at the time.

Asked by Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated if he was sorry, Pierce didn’t even know there was anything to be apologetic about. “For what?” Pierce answered. Even as his agent Jeff Schwartz suggested apologizing to make sure the video didn’t impact his Hall-of-Fame chances, Pierce declined.

“Come on, I didn’t do anything illegal,” Pierce said. “These motherf*ckers in the Hall of Fame, some did [cocaine], f*cking battery. What the f*ck did I do? I was just having a good time. All the people coming after me, half you motherf*ckers do the same sh*t. You’re just hiding it. And you all are married while you’re doing it. I’m divorced. I’m retired. I’m having fun.”

While Pierce is still set to be celebrated at his Basketball Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony this weekend, the video put the finishing touches on his relationship with ESPN. But Pierce didn’t seem to mind.

“I was done with them, anyway,” Pierce told SI. “It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.”

It’s not a surprising admission from Pierce, who was a fierce rival of LeBron James during his NBA career. ESPN tries to lean on topics surrounding LeBron considering his ability to garner attention from an audience that transcends basketball fans.

Now that he has more free time as a retired NBA player and an ex-ESPN employee, Pierce said he has a podcast with his former Boston Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett in the works. The plan is for Pierce and Garnett to do “all the sh*t we couldn’t do when we played.”

“Skydiving,” Pierce said for example. “Maybe a bull run in Spain. Get motorcycles and travel around. Experience different cultures, different foods. That would be so much fun.”