After years of taking hits from Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman finally fired back, and Michelle Beadle was excited to see it.

Since their break-up on First Take, Smith has been very open about being the one who decided Kellerman was no longer fit for the show. Probably too open, with Smith taking unnecessary shots at Kellerman every time he gets asked about their relationship, even blaming his former First Take partner for what he believed was a lack of chemistry on the show. And for years, Kellerman quietly absorbed jab after jab, until this week, when Kellerman joined The Bill Simmons Podcast and finally responded.

While Smith claimed he and Kellerman lacked chemistry, Kellerman claimed one reason for their divorce was that ESPN’s $100 million talent couldn’t handle debating him on a regular basis.

“If you’re doing a debate show and you’re a competitive person, why would you want me as a partner?” Kellerman asked Simmons. “That’s bad. You want to go 15 rounds every day with ‘Muhammad Kellerman?’ That’s just bad. It’s embarrassing.”

And to that, Michelle Beadle basically said, ‘finally.’


“I’d like to shout out Max Kellerman,” she said to close Wednesday’s episode of Beadle and Decker. “We’ve been waiting for you to start talking, friend. We’ve been waiting on this day for a while.”

Co-host Cody Decker noted Kellerman is pretty smart, adding, “You know who isn’t smart? I’m not going to say it.”

“You don’t have to,” Beadle interjected. “People know what’s up.”

And the people who know what’s up know they were both referring to Stephen A. Smith. As much as Beadle respects Kellerman from their time working on SportsNation together, she loathes Stephen A. Smith even more.

During an appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast two years ago, Beadle was critical of Smith for fostering a very one-sided feud with Kellerman. Beadle took the side of believing her former co-host may have been too intelligent an opponent for Smith to handle on a debate show, a sentiment Kellerman appeared to echo this week.

Beadle’s dislike of Smith was amplified last summer when the First Take host replaced her and Decker on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio. And she hasn’t passed up many opportunities to criticize Smith since.  Kellerman, however, waited four years to pick his spot, and, like many who had been listening to Smith repeatedly criticize him, Beadle was happy to finally hear a rebuttal.