Stephen A Smith was one of the first people to take Shannon Sharpe under his wing in 2023 when Sharpe left FS1. He’s now doing the same in the aftermath of an embarrassing Instagram Live mishap in which viewers could hear Sharpe making love.
In the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show released Friday, Smith made it clear he had no problem with Sharpe’s miscue and believed his apology.
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Smith said. “Mistakes happen. Accidents happen. It’s just that simple.”
Sharpe apologized for the mistake on Wednesday night’s Nightcap podcast, opening up about his embarrassment and shame around the technological flub.
The two are partners twice a week on First Take and personal friends, so it may not come as a surprise that Smith would defend Sharpe. But he went out of his way to explain why.
Smith has seen Sharpe firsthand and knows that he has a team of people who manage his social media presence, which leads Smith to believe Sharpe when he says he does not know how to access Instagram Live in the first place.
“When that brother says he didn’t know he was on IG Live, he didn’t know,” Smith said. “Because there’s very little he knows about social media.”
As for the explicit nature of the sounds emanating from Sharpe’s bedroom and broadcast to the masses, Smith sees no reason why Sharpe should be shaded for what he did.
Smith doesn’t agree with calling the video a “sex tape” or making it out to be something more extreme.
“The nerve of people out there who were trying to act like he did something wrong, two consenting adults were getting it in … what’s the problem?” Smith added. “They’re trying to say sex tape, sex tape. Nah, no. You didn’t see it … accidents happen.”
While some have compared Sharpe’s slip up to that of Paul Pierce in 2021, which led him to be fired from ESPN, Smith affirmed that Sharpe is sticking around at the worldwide leader.
We can all expect to see Sharpe back on First Take opposite Stephen A Smith next week.