Shannon Sharpe’s days at FS1 are numbered. The Post reports Sharpe will split from Skip Bayless after reaching a buyout agreement with Fox Sports.
Shannon Sharpe is expected to appear on Undisputed through the conclusion of the NBA Finals. Sharpe will take his popular Club Shay Shay podcast with him after departing from Fox Sports.
Sharpe was long believed to work his way out of FS1, especially after he and Bayless clashed on air over Damar Hamlin’s injury.
Following a controversial tweet from Bayless about Hamlin’s injury, Sharpe did not show up to Undisputed. A day after his absence, Shannon Sharpe returned to the Undisputed desk, and the fireworks immediately went off between him and Bayless.
In a monologue, Sharpe explained his absence and stated he didn’t agree with Skip’s tweet. “Skip tweeted something and although I disagree with the tweet, and hopefully, Skip will take it down…”
Skip would interject and state, “Time out — I’m not going to take it down because I stand by what I tweeted.”
The two would go back and forth briefly before Shannon deflected to the show’s moderator to continue forward with the show.
You can see the moment below.
Shannon skipped the Tuesday broadcast, according to TMZ, because he was “upset” with Skip Bayless’s offensive Damar Hamlin tweet, in which he questioned why the NFL would postpone a crucial game so late in the season. The outlet added that the network is uncertain as to whether Sharpe will report for duty on Wednesday.
In the episode that aired the following Tuesday, Bayless took the opportunity to retract his remarks and explain his intentions.
“I apologize for what we’re going to set out to do here today, if it offends anyone, because we’re gonna try to do the show pretty much as we usually do the show. I’ll admit up front, I’m still shook up by what happened last night to Damar Hamlin,” Bayless said. “In fact, I’m still wrecked. In fact, I’m not sure I’m capable of doing this show today. After barely sleeping on it last night, I decided to give it a try.”
He added, “We wrestled through much of the night whether to even do a show today because it felt like in our mind, we almost can’t win with this. Because the last thing we want to try to do is come off as insensitive to what this young man is going through in a life-or-death situation. … As this show goes on, we’re going to try and talk about a little bit of sports, but we’re going to continue to talk about what happened to this young man last night and try to sort back through it with help from you and the audience.”
The Post also notes Sharpe’s relationship with LeBron James, who Bayless relentlessly goes after, contributed to the departure. There is currently not a plan for replacing Sharpe on the show.
