Shannon Sharpe liked a tweet that ripped into his undisputed co-host Skip Bayless, suggesting the pair’s relationship had gradually deteriorated over the past few years amid his reported departure from the show.
It emerged on Wednesday that Sharpe, a three-time Super Bowl champion, would be leaving Undisputed on Fox Sports after seven years after he struck a deal with Fox on a buyout on his terms and his last show will be in June after the NBA Finals.
The 54-year-old wanted parity with Bayless in terms of influence over the topics discussed on the show, according to The New York Post.
But Sharpe liked a tweet Wednesday night that suggested the rift between the two ran deeper than disagreements over the show’s content.
Sharpe seemed to back up claims that Bayless was not happy with his co-host’s success without him, causing their partnership to deteriorate.
Shannon Sharpe liked a tweet suggesting a breakup with Undisputed co-host Skip Bayless
It came after news that Sharpe is reportedly leaving Undisputed at Fox Sports in June
The 54-year-old wanted parity with Bayless in terms of influence over topics on the show
The tweet read, “Their relationship has been getting worse over the last 2 maybe 3 years because Skip fought for him to be on that show but I feel like Skip couldn’t stand Shannon succeeding without it and that was when Skip made potshots in the air. ‘
Sharpe also liked a few other tweets commenting on the split, one that also touched on Bayless a bit.
“I only watched because of @ShannonSharpe, whatever you do next, I’m watching,” it read.
The pair have had a number of disagreements in recent months, most notably over how the NFL should handle the response to Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest in January.
Bayless tweeted in early January on the night of Hamlin’s collapse that the NFL could not postpone the Buffalo Bills game with the Bengals due to scheduling, despite widespread fears that Hamlin would survive after going into cardiac arrest on the field.
No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game, but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is critical to the outcome of the regular season… which suddenly seems so irrelevant,” Bayless wrote.
Sharpe stayed away from the next day’s episode of Undisputed and when he returned the day after, he was visibly frustrated with Bayless interrupting him as he explained his position.
Bayless apologized for the tweet but did not delete it.
Sharpe also liked a few other tweets commenting on the split, like the one above
Sharpe has reportedly reached an agreement with Fox on a buyout of his terms to leave
Sharpe has clashed with co-host Bayless in recent months, most notably over Damar Hamlin
The above tweet from Bayless the night Hamlin went into cardiac arrest sparked outrage
“Skip tweeted something, and while I disagreed with the tweet, and hopefully Skip will delete it,” said Sharpe, explaining his absence around the Hamlin incident, before Bayless intervened.
“Time out,” Bayless said Wednesday. “I’m not going to delete it because I stand by what I tweeted.”
Sharpe replied, “I can’t even get through a monologue without you interrupting me.”
“I was just about to say, Skip, I didn’t want to get into a situation yesterday where Damar Hamlin was the problem. We should be talking about him, not responding to your tweet.
‘I was going to do that. But you can’t even let me finish my opening monologue without interrupting.”
But the following month, Sharpe shared how he mended his relationship with Bayless.
“We see things differently, that’s why we’re working on the show,” Sharpe said on Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s podcast in February. “I don’t want disagreements to go out of line and I think they do. I think everyone thought that.’
And Sharpe, a former NFL player, praised the show’s impact on his life, saying, “More people know me from Undisputed than from the NFL – most people don’t realize I actually played and was a pretty good player!” ‘
Sharpe spoke on Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo’s podcast about his disagreement between Hamlin and Bayless
The premise of Undisputed is that Sharpe and Bayless, 71, debate the most important sports topics of the day — whether they agree or not.
They also clashed on a personal level in December when Bayless compared Sharpe who retired at 35 to Tom Brady who played to 45.
Sharpe played as a tight end – winning two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos and another with the Baltimore Ravens – while Brady, of course, was a quarterback.
‘I did what I did!’ Sharpe responded to Bayless. “You make it look like I was a bum! I’m in the Effin’ Hall of Fame. I’ve got three Super Bowls!”
Bayless didn’t back down and say, “So what?” He’s much better than you were.’
It only angered Sharpe more and as he tried to speak, Bayless interrupted him, leading to the former tight end shouting “Time out!” yelled. and threw his glasses on the table.
Sharpe then said, “Are you willing to shoot me personally, to say he’s better than me, because I say he’s playing badly this year?”
The pair also clashed over Brady earlier, with Bayless hitting back at Sharpe this time.
In 2018, Sharpe insinuated that his co-host was censoring his views of certain players, including Brady, to ingratiate themselves with them. Bayless resented the allegation, accusing Sharpe of “crossing the line.”
But despite their recent conflicts, some of their colleagues at Fox were shocked by the great news of Sharpe’s departure.
Sharpe was a three-time Super Bowl winner during his NFL career as a tight end
Chris Broussard, of Fox Sport Radio’s “The Odd Couple,” said on his show, “I’m stunned by this news from Shannon Sharpe. I think it’s a huge loss. I thought he and Skip Bayless had at least reached a point where they could coexist, but apparently not.’
Sharpe’s podcast, Club Shay Shay, is also believed to follow him from Fox.
Bayless, meanwhile, had not commented on reports on his official Twitter account, where he regularly posts.
Undisputed continues at 9:30am ET on Thursday, the same day the NBA Finals between Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets begin.