Shannon Sharpe Breaks Silence on ESPN Firing and Fans Are Furious About What He Said Next
This weekend Shannon Sharpe will finally get to live his long-awaited dream of inducting his older brother Sterling into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But before getting a chance to do that, he had to address ESPN’s recent announcement on his status at the network.
On Wednesday, ESPN announced that it had fully cut ties with Sharpe. The announcement comes on the heels of Sharpe settling a lawsuit alleging s3xual assault out of court.
The timing was a major issue for him.
Sharpe decided to address the news in the opening segment of his Nightcap podcast. Speaking to his fans, Sharpe said that while he has known that he would not be allowed back at the network, he lamented that the network could not at least wait until next week to make the announcement public. Sharpe explained that he feels it takes away from his brother’s big moment.
“Everybody’s heard the news by now that I will not be returning to ESPN,” Sharpe said. “I found out this information a little earlier in the week. The only thing I really asked is if we can wait until Monday. My brother’s going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I really wanted it to be about him, and I wanted it to be about family.
“I just wish this thing could have waited until Monday,” he added. “I wanted it to be about everything he worked his entire life for.”
But while Sharpe was clearly disappointed in how things ended with ESPN, he declared that he nevertheless enjoyed his time at the Worldwide Leader in Sports. He said that he remains grateful for ESPN allowing him to bring his personality to the shows he was featured on.
“I enjoyed my time at ESPN. It gave me an opportunity to bring my audience that saw me really just grow,” Sharpe said. “They saw me say ‘Lakers in five’ and all these analogies my grandparents gave me, and I was able to bring that to ESPN, and I’m grateful for that.”
The situation was not ideal, to say the least.
Back in April, a lawsuit was filed against a woman much younger than Sharpe who alleged s3xual assault while they were in a relationship. A lawsuit was followed by the release of leaked audio which appeared to depict Sharpe saying some rather disturbing things.
Sharpe attempted to do his own form of damage control by sharing messages shared with the woman, but it didn’t improve things.
In the aftermath, Sharpe was forced to put his nationwide tour of Nightcap on hold and was removed from all programming by ESPN. While some media personalities were willing to give Sharpe the benefit of the doubt pending the lawsuit’s outcome, he has largely become persona non grata in mainstream outlets.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – FEBRUARY 03: Shannon Sharpe and Sterling Sharpe attends the NFL Honors at University of Minnesota on February 3, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images
As for the lawsuit, the plaintiff’s attorney Tony Buzbee announced two weeks ago that a settlement had been reached between his client and Sharpe.
“On April 20, 2025, The Buzbee Law Firm filed a complaint in Nevada making several allegations against Shannon Sharpe on behalf of our client. Both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship. After protracted and respectful negotiations, I’m pleased to announce that we have reached a mutually agreed upon resolution. All matters have now been addressed satisfactorily, and the matter is closed. The lawsuit will thus be dismissed with prejudice,” Buzbee shared on July 18.
It may take a long time for Sharpe to get back into the good graces of mainstream sports media platforms. And that’s assuming he even wants to anymore now that he has his own successful platform.
