What began as a hiatus for Shannon Sharpe from ESPN’s First Take is now a permanent departure, after Sharpe was accused by a former romantic partner of sexual assault.
The writing was always on the wall given ESPN’s preference to stay clean of controversy, despite Sharpe developing a close relationship with First Take star and executive producer Stephen A. Smith. Now that Sharpe’s departure is official, Smith has addressed the end of his buddy’s time at the Worldwide Leader.
In an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Thursday, Smith indicated he and Sharpe remain on good terms and that Sharpe’s dismissal was “way above” his pay grade.
“My relationship with Shannon Sharpe is a pretty damn good one. I got a lot of love for him,” Smith said. “He did a great, great job for First Take. Anything that I needed him to do, he has always been there for me. It’s unfortunate what happened with his situation. And certain decisions that were made were way above my pay grade.”
Smith’s role as an intermediary during Sharpe’s legal defense this year has been interesting. The lawsuit against Sharpe appeared to catch Smith and everyone else at ESPN off guard when it was filed in April. Despite the filing coming late on a Sunday night, Sharpe appeared for his scheduled spot on First Take the following day. That week, Sharpe announced his own leave of absence from the network.
Smith would later post a carefully worded response video to his YouTube channel in which he appeared to put forth an unofficial statement from ESPN management (even naming chair Jimmy Pitaro specifically). Either that, or Smith was making his own willingness to part ways with Sharpe known to his bosses.
Sharpe never appeared on First Take again, confirming his exit from ESPN in late July.
The network reportedly had big plans for Shannon Sharpe. The Pro Football Hall of Famer was in the mix for a 5 p.m. ET show to replace Around the Horn and was a fixture reacting to football games to start each week on First Take. Now, in addition to a long delay on his pursuit of a new podcast partnership, Sharpe is without a television home for the first time in many years.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.