National Basketball Association (NBA) star, Paul Pierce who played for Boston Celtics for the major part of his career has been taken off air by ESPN. The basketball star did an Instagram live with strippers. In the livestream, he was surrounded by bikini clad women, some of whom were dancing while some were giving him a massage. Some fans were amused while some were outraged. The ESPN administration was surely outraged by such a behavior by the basketball star.
Pierce ended his basketball career with Celtics in 2017. After retirement, he worked as an analyst in TV shows about basketball namely, The Jump and NBA Countdown. The ‘stripper incident’ took place on 1st April, 2021 and on 5th April, 2021, ESPN reportedly have ‘parted ways’ with Paul Pierce. ESPN denied to comment on the issue.
Paul Pierce did his debut in 1998 when he was chosen for the Boston Celtics. He continued playing for them for the next 15 years. He left Celtics in 2013 only to come back in 2017 for retirement. The legend, Shaquille O’Neal gave Paul the nickname “The Truth” in 2001. This is his nick-name till date. He was named the most valuable player in NBA in 2008. The same year when Celtics won the NBA Championship.
This recent Instagram Live incident isn’t the first controversy in the life of Pierce. He has been subjected to a brutal assault in 2000 when his face was stabbed 11 times.
Pierce later came out with a short statement on his Twitter account that read “Big Things coming soon stay tuned make sure u smile #Truthshallsetufree.”