Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless THROW DOWN in Fiery Exchange Over Controversial Tweet: ‘I Can’t Even Get Through a Monologue Without You Interrupting!’
Fox Sports hosts Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless got into an awkward back-and-forth to start their show Wednesday morning after Sharpe was absent from Tuesday’s show.
Bayless caused controversy Monday night with a tweet widely criticized as insensitive following Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin‘s collapse on the field. Hamlin received CPR on the field and was rushed to a local Cincinnati hospital, where he was intubated and listed in critical condition. Bayless tweeted, “This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome.” The NFL decided to postpone the game between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals after the horrific event players, coaches, and fans had to witness. Bayless was ripped to shreds on Twitter for focusing on the game rather than Hamlin. Sharpe no-showed to Undisputed on Tuesday and tried to explain why he was not on the program.
“There’s been a lot of speculation to why I wasn’t on air yesterday, and I won’t get into speculation or conjecture innuendo, but I will say this,” Sharpe began. “Watching that game Monday night, what happened to Damar Hamlin struck me a little different.”
Sharpe went on to explain how he had never seen anything like Hamlin’s situation on the football field before. Then Sharpe mentioned Bayless’ tweet, which set off fireworks.
“Skip tweeted something, and although I disagree with the tweet, and hopefully Skip would take it down,” Sharpe said.
Bayless quickly interrupted and defended his tweet, which — he argued on yesterday’s show — was “widely misconstrued.”
“Timeout, I’m not gonna take it down,” Bayless replied. “Cause I stand by what I tweeted.”
Sharpe threw his arms down and conceded that since he was not ready for an argument with Bayless about the tweet, he was prepared to get the show started.
“I mean, I can’t even get through a monologue without you interrupting,” Sharpe added. “I was just gonna say, Skip, I didn’t want to yesterday to get into a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We shoulda been talking about him and not get into your tweet. That’s what I was going to do, but you can’t even let me finish my opening monologue without you interrupting.”
Bayless threw his arms up in the air and prepared to defend himself since he did not expect Sharpe to bring up the tweet.
“I was under the impression weren’t going to bring this up because nobody here had a problem with that tweet,” Bayless added.
On Tuesday’s Undisputed, Bayless said he got a call from one of his bosses at Fox Monday night that he should clarify his tweet since it was negatively received, which Sharpe called him out on. Bayless denied that anyone at Fox Sports took issue with his tweet.
Undisputed host Jen Hale offered her thoughts and prayers to Hamlin’s family, and Sharpe explained that’s where the show’s focus should have been.
“That’s where the focus should have been and not on a football game,” Sharpe concluded.
Watch above via Fox Sports 1.
