Paul Pierce was fired from ESPN this past April after he went on Instagram Live at a friend’s poker game in a video that featured drinking, smoking, and cavorting with strippers. As he prepares to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this coming weekend, Pierce made it clear that he is not sorry for the video, which was the final straw in the relationship with the network in which the two already had irreconcilable differences.
Asked by Sports Illustrated if he was sorry, Pierce answered with a rhetorical question: “For what?”
While Pierce was unaware that Instagram Live videos could be preserved, he’s unbothered by the consequences.
“Come on, I didn’t do anything illegal,” Pierce said, protesting advice from his agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management that an apology could stop his Hall of Fame chances from being hurt.
“These motherf–kers in the Hall of Fame, some did [cocaine], f–king battery. What the f–k did I do? I was just having a good time. All the people coming after me, half you motherf–kers do the same s–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.”
And if Hall voters had held it against him?
“Listen,” says Pierce, “if I didn’t make it with this class, it would be the biggest stiff job in Hall of Fame history.”
Regarding of the video, Pierce alluded to the fact that he was a poor fit at ESPN, where work schedule and topic selection were persistent points of contention.
“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.”
As for his next content endeavors, Pierce said he is planning a podcast with his former Celtics and Nets teammate Kevin Garnett, and also aspires to make a global travel show with him.
“Just doing all the s–t we couldn’t do when we played,” he said.
For example?
“Skydiving,” says Pierce. “Maybe a bull run in Spain. Get motorcycles and travel around. Experience different cultures, different foods. That would be so much fun.”
Could you imagine if that duo winds up being the heir apparent to Anthony Bourdain?