There is something that most have intuited about Shannon Sharpe but have not yet said aloud. The truth is painfully obvious; yet it remains unspoken because it is about a famous Black man that we all want to see succeed. However, there is no other conclusion. It is staring us in the face, so we might as well come to terms with reality: Shannon Sharpe is not very smart. Like, he is the opposite of smart.
He has devoted over 30 years of his life to football, so there is no question he has insightful things to say about what happens on the gridiron. He has a great screen presence. So, when he was on “Undisputed” with Skip Bayless, he leapt off the television and caught the attention of Black Twitter. There was hardly a day during the pandemic when someone didn’t use his face in a meme. He was social media gold. So, when his time at Fox came to an end, it made sense that Stephen A. Smith recruited him to join ESPN’s “First Take.”
He brilliantly embodies rural Black masculinity on every platform he is on, so though some found him coon adjacent (There is a picture of him in a Durag smoking a cigar holding brown liquor…”coon-adjacent” is the nicest thing we could call him), we tolerated him because he was a great watch. Then his YouTube show “Club Shay Shay” became a sensation in 2024 when Kat Williams joined him on the couch.
Sharpe was on top of the world. He was poised to sign a 100-million-dollar contract with ESPN, but his stupidity caught up with him.
Now, an older man dating a younger woman is a tale old as time. Sean “Diddy” Combs started dating Cassie when she was 19 and he was 36. Eddie Murphy, the father of 11 children, has a wife 19 years his junior. Dating a younger woman is not the issue. The problem with Sharpe’s choice in a sexual partner is that she was 19 when he was 54. Even Leonardo DiCaprio would disapprove of a 35-year age difference. That’s just not smart.
What’s more, he got caught on tape saying he would choke his sexual partner. I have questions about whether she set him up to say that on tape, but the fact that he fell for it betrays a lack of situational awareness. Then, to top it all off, he made a sex tape and does not have control over who has it. Has he never heard of an NDA? After the Instagram incident that happened in September of last year, how has he not gotten his affairs in order on that front?
We should not kink-shame Sharpe. He can record what he wants, but to not have something in place that protects him is…well…unintelligent.
I think theHall Of Famer’s career with ESPN (Disney) is over. The Mouse does not tolerate these kinds of shenanigans. Older Black folks have a saying in the South: you can’t outrun stupid.
I think Shannon Sharpe’s just caught up with him.