Shannon Sharpe claims advertisers are pulling out of his podcast and he risks losing ‘$200m sponsorship deal’ after accidental Instagram sex video
ESPN decided to keep Shannon Sharpe on board after he accidentally went live on Instagram while having sex. Other partners and guests are reportedly severing ties with the First Take host.
On Wednesday, Sharpe’s Instagram account began streaming as he could be heard performing sexual acts on a woman he called “Michelle.” That evening, Sharpe went on his Nightcap show and confessed to what he called an accident after his team initially claimed he had been hacked.
As the scandal continues to swirl, Sharpe went on the show Thursday and revealed that people and companies refuse to be associated with him after the incident.
“People are trying to say it’s staged,” Sharpe said. “I just lost an interview today at Club ShayShay, which would have been the most visible person I could have interviewed so far. They said no.
“We have sponsors and advertisers who are paying six- and seven-figure sums of money and they say, ‘Shannon, we don’t know if we want to continue this relationship,’” he continued.
Shannon Sharpe Claims Advertisers Are Pulling From His Podcast Over Sex Tape Scandal
Sharpe went live on his Instagram while having an intimate moment with a woman
“My company, ShayShay Media, is about to become a free agent, which means we can take Nightcap and Club ShayShay anywhere we want,” Sharpe added.
‘So you think I would be willing to risk that… over the next five to seven years, $170m to $200m, do you think I would be willing to risk that to do this? Would you be willing to risk $200m?’
Earlier on Thursday, Jason Whitlock called Sharpe a “master of provocation,” before claiming the “accident” was planned to gain viewership and combat rumors about his sexuality.
“He’s a master of baiting,” Whitlock said. “Late at night he goes to Nightcap, confesses, and gets 185,000, 190,000, 200,000 live viewers on YouTube — that’s a huge number.
‘And so people immediately go to [say]: ‘Was this leaked intentionally for publicity? ‘Was this leaked intentionally to combat the rumors that Shannon Sharpe is gay? Those rumors have been going around for a while.’
Jason Whitlock suggested that Sharpe deliberately streamed himself having sex for viewership
Sharpe said during the much-watched episode of Nightcap that he threw his phone on the bed and had no idea that a livestream had started from the ceiling, showing Sharpe and the woman having sex.
While Sharpe talked about struggling with technology, co-host Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson emphasized that starting a livestream requires multiple steps and rarely happens by accident.
As for the rumors about his sexuality, Sharpe revealed that he received a phone call from comedian Kat Williams, who joked that he was with “Michelle” and not “Michael.”
Sharpe was absent from Thursday’s episode of First Take , which was helmed by Stephen A. Smith and featured Dan Orlovsky, in what was reportedly a planned day off. However, he is expected to return to ESPN on Monday, which is in line with his usual schedule.