Shannon Sharpe has hit back at critics over his provocative interview with comedian Katt Williams that was released on Jan. 3. Sharpe responded to the criticism during the Jan. 4 episode of his other show, “Nightcap with Unc and Ocho.”
Sharpe hosts the program with fellow former NFL star Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, and the 55-year-old said if critics were looking for hard-hitting journalism they should watch “60 Minutes.”
During Williams’ interview on “Club Shay Shay,” the comedian went in on several other celebrities including Cedric the Entertainer, Rickey Smiley, Tyler Perry, Steve Harvey, Ludacris and Kevin Hart, just to name a few. The interview also featured Williams talking about his life and complaining about his collogues for more than two hours, prompting Sharpe to say at one point, “Lord, I hope I still have a ‘Club Shay Shay’ after this.'”
Following the interview, Sharpe was criticized for letting Williams ramble on and failing to ask follow-up questions, and he clapped back on “Nightcap.” A clip of his message to his critics was shared on X with the caption, “Unc claps back at critics of his Katt Williams interview on Club Shay Shay.”
Sharpe revealed that Williams said he’d been waiting a whole year to speak his mind and was on a “one” before the interview even began.
“Now a lot of people have said, ‘Oh, Shannon left much on the table.’ Shannon is not a journalist. I never said I was a journalist, right? If you listen, in my intro I said normally what I say, ‘the person that’s coming by for conversation and a drink.’ I’m a conversationalist, not an interviewer. It’s a different space.”
Sharpe added that Williams said the podcast host provided a “safe” space for his guests.
“He said ‘You’ve allowed other people a very safe place. That’s why we like coming.’ Safe place,” he continued. “I’ve also said on numerous occasions if you want ’60 minutes,’ if you want ‘Dateline,’ if you want, uh, ’48 Hours’, I’m not the place for you. Go to those places and get those types of interviews. Go to Lester Holt. Go to Norah O’Donnell. Go to — I’m not Mike Wallace, rest his soul. I’m not Ed Bradley, rest his soul, or Dan Rather or Walter Kronkite, rest their souls. Tom Brokaw, that’s not who I am.”
Sharpe added that despite him conducting more than 101 interviews, including with Harvey, Magic Johnson, Cedric The Entertainer and others, no one criticized him before for not asking follow-up questions.
“I’ve had a lot of people,” he continued. “Nobody said anything about pushback and follow-up questions until I got Katt Williams on. And this thing went and take off like wildfire.”
Fans reacted to Sharpe’s “Nightcap” discussion on X. One fan wrote, “Unc you did an OUTSTANDING job! Your first responsibility is to create an atmosphere where the guest feels comfortable opening up, and you did that!”
Another fan replied, “But Unc…it’s a conversation…not a monologue. When talking with the fellas, and they say something out of left field, u dont just let it sit, u ask em what they mean You dont have to be a journalist to follow up. That’s active listening & not just running through ur questions.”
A third fan added, “It was hard for me to accept your perspective then I thought about how ultimately you were just being yourself and I’m cool with that.”
Sharpe also noted that his critics were, “Upset that he said everything that he said, and that he said it on my platform.”
The podcast host also noted that he found it difficult to interrupt Williams while he was saying his peace due to having friendships with the other comedians he was verbally attacking. But as an entertainer, he believes he gave the episode’s 16 million YouTube viewers exactly what they wanted.
