The Denver Nuggets closed out the 2023 NBA Finals on June 12. The next day, former NFL turned sports TV star Shannon Sharpe co-hosted his final episode of Fox Sports’ “Undisputed.”
Unc Shannon sharpe got emotional thanking Skip bayless 🥺😭❤️💯 pic.twitter.com/RhkOpX353L
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) June 13, 2023
Stephen A. Smith, who currently works alongside Sharpe two days a week on ESPN’s “First Take,” has touched on the circumstances surrounding the FS1 departure in the past, suggesting his exit was less than amicable.
“I didn’t look at it that way. I would’ve looked at it that way if Shannon left of his own volition. I’m telling you he was pushed out,” Smith said on “The Joe Budden Podcast” in September 2023.
As the one-year anniversary of his “Undisputed” exit approaches, Sharpe sat down with the “Black Money Tree” podcast to reflect on his past.
According to Sharpe, a year ago, he didn’t think he’d be where he is today.
“See, people are like, ‘Well, Shannon, why’d you get so emotional?’ Because if you knew what I put into that job, you would understand it.” Sharpe told host Jerome D. Love at the 2024 Texas Black Expo in a clip posted on May 27. “You see, the greater the expectation, the greater the hurt when it doesn’t work out. And I poured so much into that.”
Sharpe, choking up a bit, said his commitment to the job came at the expense of his personal life.
“I gave up everything. I lost relationships because I couldn’t go out to dinner. I couldn’t go on vacation. I couldn’t do it because I had to watch all the sporting events. I had to be able to talk about them on television and talk about them expertly, so it cost me a lot.”
“Although I was hurt, I knew the old saying, ‘Sunshine follows rain,’ so in my lowest, I always say this: ‘God, I know you didn’t bring me this far just to bring me this far.'”
The crowd cheered hearing Sharpe’s testimony as he began speaking about powerful advice given to him by his sister, whom he also considers his best friend.
Sharpe once again brought the conversation back to the sacrifices he made for “Undisputed” and all the work he put in. Just the thought of his sacrifices nearly brought him to tears again.
“To say that it didn’t hurt to leave because it did.. because of what I put into that, and that’s why it hurts,” said an emotional Sharpe. “That’s why parents get upset when your kid doesn’t fulfill what you have expected of them. It hurt you more. It hurt me to lose because I had put so much into that job. And so now I look at it, I say now I’m no longer talent. You can’t fire me from Shay Shay media because I own it. You can’t fire me from ‘Nightcap.’ You can’t fire me from ‘Club Shay Shay,’ I own it. And so that’s the way I look at my business now. You’re going to be my partner. You’re no longer just going to cut me a check to do something. We’re in partnership.”
Though he did not explicitly state it, this seemingly hints as the first time Sharpe has indicated he was actually fired from “Undisputed.” When the former FS1 co-host initially parted ways with the show, he remained tight-lipped about the situation not immediately making it clear what led to his departure.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is officially my last day at work. After seven years, the train stops with Shannon Sharpe and ‘Undisputed’ right here,” Sharpe said on his final episode.
On a Sept. 2023 episode of “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” Sharpe opened up about the December 2022 on-air incident in which he felt Skip Bayless did not show respect for him.
“There were times that led up to that that I felt shots were taken, and I let it go,” Sharpe told Smith. “I should’ve said something then, but I didn’t. And I would bring it to people’s attention, and they brushed it up under the rug. So that was my fault that it got to that point and he felt that he could go over the top in that situation. I think in any relationship where there’s a host or co-host… once one partner has no respect for the other, the other partner then, in turn, loses respect for said partner. Then, I think it’s only a matter of time. Because in that moment, I had felt he had lost all respect for me. He had no respect for me.”
He went on to say that he knew his time was coming, so he rode out his contract.
” I knew in that moment in time, it was only a matter of time. They were going to have to separate that. I knew that. I knew that. I was willing to play out the contract, but I knew it was going to end because he had started coming with greater, greater regularity, the disrespect,” said Sharpe.
It appears that for the first time ever, Sharpe is finally confirming he was fired. However, being fired is something he no longer has to worry about. Now that he owns his own platform, Sharpe is doing better than ever. He recently bragged about making more money from his one Kat Williams interview on “Club Shay” than he did in a single year in the NFL.
“I just got the check. So whatever you think I made, three X it. So if you think I made 500,000, three X it. If you think I made a million, three X it. If you think I made two million, three X it,” he said.
Sharpe and former NFL wide receiver Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson also co-host the “Nightcap” show.
