by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

January 5, 2023

Shannon Sharpe Gets Testy with Skip Bayless Over Insensitive Damar Hamlin Tweet

It is definitely Undisputed that Shannon Sharpe is not in a happy place with co-host Skip Bayless.

Less than a month after a heated on-air discussion between the Undisputed co-hosts, Sharpe and Bayless, were at odds once again when Bayless posted what many deemed as an insensitive tweet after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest.

“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 crucial to the regular-season outcome…which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”

The backlash was immediate and people did not understand why Bayless, knowing that a young man was fighting for his life, would make such a statement.

Sharpe was so outraged he did not appear on-camera on Tuesday when he returned to the show on Wednesday he immediately confronted Bayless about the Tweet sent during the football game on Monday.

“There has been a lot of speculation of why I wasn’t on-air yesterday,” Sharpe began.

“And I won’t get into speculation or conjecture and innuendo, but I will say this: In watching that game on Monday night, what happened to Damar Hamlin struck me a little different,” Sharpe said.

He continued, “As a brotherhood in the NFL, when injuries happen, and we know injuries are a part of the game…but I’ve never seen anybody have to be revived and fight for their life on the field.”

During the nationally televised football game between the Bills and the Bengals, Bills safety Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest after completing a play on the field. After the play stopped and Hamlin was resuscitated, the game was suspended before the officials decided to postpone it.

While officials were deciding how to proceed, Bayless sent out the tweet about the importance of the game continuing despite Hamlin being out.

When Sharpe did not show up for the Undisputed taping on Tuesday, some speculated that his absence was because of Bayless’ Tweet, which Bayless did not take down.

As Sharpe began his monologue to open the show, he made mention of the Tweet. Before Sharpe could finish his thought, Bayless immediately cut him off.

He went on to address the elephant in the room.

“… Skip tweeted something and although I disagree with the tweet, and hopefully Skip will take it down.”

Bayless again cut him off.

“Timeout, I’m not going to take it down. I stand by what I tweeted.”

Clearly agitated, Sharpe then said, “I cannot even get through a monologue without you interrupting me… I didn’t want yesterday to get into a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We should’ve been talking about him and not getting into your tweet. That was what I wasn’t going to do, but you can’t even let me finish my open monologue.”

The pair got past the tense exchange before continuing the show.


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