When Shannon Sharpe reached a buyout with FS1 after seven years on Undisputed, many blamed his departure on his former co-host Skip Bayless. After all, Skip upset the NFL brethren with his tweet about Damar Hamlin's injury immediately after the Buffalo Bills safety went into cardiac arrest. There was also a heated debate about Tom Brady during an on-air segment that prompted Skip to say "So" when Shannon reminded his co-host that he, too was a Hall of Famer, just like Brady. After an emotional final episode of Undipstued on June 13th, Shannon's departure ignited a free agency period in sports media where he was pursued by a number of media outlets before making the decision to join the debate desk on ESPN's flagship show, First Take, while taking his hit podcast, Club Shay Shay, to The Volume owned by Colin Cowherd. Meanwhile, Skip Bayless remained the villain in the eyes of many.
Stephen A. Smith played a significant role in recruiting Shannon Sharpe to ESPN as his new co-host on First Take (Mondays & Tuesdays). In a recent interview, the highest-paid on-air personality at ESPN shed a little more light on Shannon's departure from ESPN, revealing that the notion of Shannon leaving FS1 of his own volition was untrue. Instead, he was "pushed out" by the company's executives. When Jason Whitlock caught wind of the revelation, he responded on his podcast, Fearless, by threating Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe with the idea that he could expose the real reason behind Shannon's highly publicized firing. Whitlock, a former colleague of Stephen A. Smith at ESPN and Shannon's at FS1, recently shared some information about Shannon's workplace behavior, calling him a "bad guy" and a "very dangerous and emotional person" while also touching on his inner circle off-camera. He also attributed Shannon's actions to the reason for his departure from CBS back in 2010.
Scroll up and press play to hear Jason Whitlock's take.
Source: YouTube
