ESPN host Paul Pierce fired after live-streaming himself ‘smoking weed’ surrounded by dancers

Cable sports channel ESPN has fired one of its basketball experts after he posted some… questionable footage online.

Ex-NBA star Paul Pierce shared videos on Instagram showing him smoking what appears to be marijuana while surrounded by women in skimpy lingerie.

The women – whom many viewers have taken to be strippers – can be seen twerking and giving one of Pierce’s friends a massage as their host makes weird approving noises and says: “What’s going on.”

Pierce, 43, has spent the past three and a half years with ESPN as a regular contributor to top studio shows NBA Countdown and The Jump.

However, his career had recently started to falter, according to the New York Post. During a recent broadcast following a game he said the wrong team had won live on air. He was swiftly corrected.

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Sources told the news site that ESPN’s main issue with the videos is that they were publicly shared by Pierce himself.

If he had been filmed by someone else who then uploaded the footage, he might have kept his job.

When news of his dismissal became public on Monday, Pierce posted a four-second video to Twitter of him laughing alongside the hashtag “smile.”

He added in the caption: “Big Things coming soon stay tuned make sure u smile #Truthshallsetufree.”

In a later tweet he added: “I can’t lose, even when I lose I’m winning.”

Here’s how Twitter has reacted to the incident:

ESPN reportedly has no immediate plans to replace Pierce but has not yet commented on the fall-out.