After watching Stephen A. Smith’s verbal attack on Jason Whitlock, Shannon Sharpe wishes his First Take co-host would have just taken the high road.
Smith warned everyone that he was about to unleash on Whitlock on his podcast Wednesday night, and he kept his promise as he railed against his former ESPN colleague for 40 minutes with profane personal attacks. Hours later, Smith’s current ESPN colleague, Shannon Sharpe went on his own podcast, Nightcap with Chad Johnson to address the bubbling feud with Whitlock.
“If you look at career-wise, you look at where Stephen A. is and you look at the guy that he was talking about, Stephen A. is up here. (Whitlock) is here, or even lower,” Sharpe said while attempting to signal Whitlock’s career pales in comparison to Smith’s.
The unhinged tirade stemmed from Whitlock alleging there are contents in Smith’s memoir Straight Shooter that are farcical, pointing specifically to the First Take host’s claims about his high school and college basketball career. Smith briefly addressed the accusations without citing Whitlock’s name on First Take earlier this week. The coy defense prompted Sharpe to suggest not worrying about Whitlock, a sentiment he echoed after Smith disregarded the advice.
“The only way he can get up is if he’s attached himself to Stephen A. or somebody that’s higher that’s going up,” Sharpe said. “I leave him alone. Look, I don’t mess with him. I don’t mess with him. He knows I don’t mess with him. He likes to bring my name (up). You know Fox tried to feed him some information about this and that, and he threatened. I don’t get into all that.”
Sharpe proceeded to note that he’s not alone in ignoring Whitlock, claiming Outkick founder and conservative radio host Clay Travis doesn’t pay him any attention either.
“Me and Clay Travis, we don’t have anything in common,” Sharpe noted. “Clay Travis don’t eff with the dude that Stephen A. was talking about. That should tell you everything you need to know. Clay Travis don’t rock with him. And I had my issues with Clay Travis.”
Whitlock joined Outkick in June 2020 before abruptly leaving in January of the next year citing a “bad business deal” after there was a discrepancy over an investor’s equity in the company.
“Whatever you got going on with Stephen A, that’s it, y’all both worked at ESPN, you’re both journalists, maybe there’s competition there. I don’t know. Leave me the eff alone. I’m not what you want,” Sharpe added. “I just wish Stephen A. would let it go, I really do.”
[Nightcap]
