Galaxy Media’s firing of Brent Axe earlier this year got a lot of attention across the sport media world. Sure, Syracuse is a breeding ground for big name talent in the industry, but the real curiosity came from a station owner saying publicly that he fired a popular host for being “too negative” about the home team.
Plenty was made of former Orange basketball coach Jim Boeheim’s stake in Galaxy Media at the time. It’s something that Axe told the WJPZ at 50 podcast that he cannot overlook.
“Look, I can’t prove that Jim Boeheim had me fired, JAG, but I will go to my grave believing it was done to appease him,” he said on an episode released Monday.
Axe was heard on ESPN Syracuse, a station owned by Galaxy Media. The day before his firing was announced, the station announced that Boeheim would be making more regular appearances on the station.
Galaxy Media CEO and President told Syracuse.com that he “had a problem with the content” of Axe’s show. Axe told JAG Gay, host of WJPZ at 50, that he was surprised Levine acknowledged that publicly.
“When Ed Levine talked on the record to Syracuse.com and the reasons for firing me, I mean, that is almost word for word what he said to me when it was an inquiry about Jim Boeheim that set him off with that.”
Axe says that Levine never directly said that Boeheim asked that he be fired, but it was easy for him to read between the lines of what was said.
“It’s announced on a Saturday he has more involvement in Galaxy Media. I get fired on a Sunday like, listen, I don’t think we have to go to a whole episode of Law & Order to figure out what went on here.”
