Michelle Beadle is once again firing shots at her old ESPN colleague, per LarryBrownSports. This time, she took aim at Stephen A. Smith after he signed on as the face of Papaya Gaming’s new World Solitaire Championship.

On her “Beadle and Decker” podcast, Beadle didn’t even say Smith’s name directly but left no confusion about who she was referring to. She criticized Smith for turning a viral embarrassment into a brand deal, calling the move “gross.”

Beadle’s remarks came after Papaya Gaming announced Smith as its official ambassador for February’s World Solitaire Championship. The company, known for its mobile game Solitaire Cash, is currently facing a federal lawsuit alleging that its “games of skill” are actually rigged with unbeatable bots, according to Front Office Sports.

“It’s no secret how I feel about that human,” Beadle said when co-host Cody Decker brought up the lawsuit. “Honestly, I’m not a religious person, but I pray for the downfall. I really do. It’s gross, man. You gotta have principles in this thing.”

The ambassadorship follows Smith’s viral moment from Game 4 of last season’s NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, when he was caught playing Solitaire while covering the game. Smith initially claimed he was only playing during a timeout before later issuing a profanity-laced response to critics.

A Decade-Old Feud Rekindled

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Beadle and Smith’s rocky history goes back more than a decade. When they worked together at ESPN, Beadle publicly condemned Smith for controversial comments he made about domestic violence in 2014. The tension lingered, and Beadle hasn’t been shy about criticizing him since her 2019 departure from the network.

This latest exchange might be their sharpest yet. Beadle went after both Smith and ESPN, saying the network created a monster. “ESPN pays him a gazillion dollars to get a lot of stuff wrong and yell,” she said. “He gets caught playing Solitaire during the NBA freaking Finals, the thing he’s an expert in. Now he’s turning around and making money off it.”

Beadle added that the network was to blame for letting Smith “run rampant,” arguing that they handed him too much freedom and influence.

Smith, who recently renewed his ESPN contract for $21 million per year, leaned into the controversy with an AI-generated ad spoofing his viral Solitaire moment to promote Papaya’s app.

While Stephen A. Smith hasn’t publicly responded to Beadle’s criticism, the exchange highlights the long-standing friction between two of ESPN’s most recognizable personalities. One has turned controversy into currency, while the other continues to call out what she sees as hypocrisy in sports media.