As Shannon Sharpe emerges from more than a year of turmoil stemming from disturbing allegations by a former romantic partner, and with perhaps the strongest streak of success his podcast business has ever seen, the former NFL star is out with new claims about his fractures with the wider football business.
Sharpe’s live show Nightcap is the biggest sports podcast on YouTube, and the industry he was reportedly in line for a $100 million deal from last year has seemingly begun to slowly embrace him again.
Yet unlike many other shows of its ilk hosted by former NFL stars, Nightcap conspicuously lacks interviews with current football players.
On Sunday’s episode, Sharpe, in a meandering rant hinting at deeper rifts with figures across the NFL, said he believes certain influential agencies have prohibited their players from appearing on Nightcap. Sharpe suggested the reason stems from an unspecified “discussion” he and cohost Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson had on-air last year.
After praising Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken for showing some personality toward NBC’s Mike Tomlin during a postgame press conference, Sharpe said America has “kind of lost decorum” in how its leadership communicates. The legendary former tight end referenced Trump administration advisor Laura Loomer’s recent racist barbs toward Senate nominee Angie Nixon of Florida as an example.
Later, Sharpe contrasted the permission structure around that loss of decorum with the reaction to his comments last year — which he said led some NFL agents to reach out directly and notify Sharpe of their new policy toward his show.
“You like my freedom of speech as long as you agree with what I’m saying,” he said.
“The moment you don’t, now all of a sudden you take it away. I can’t come to the stadium. Now I can’t be on this platform. Now you won’t let your clients — y’all know who I’m talking to, agents — y’all won’t let y’all clients come on Nightcap. But y’all big on freedom of speech. Y’all big on somebody saying whatever he wants to say, how he wants to say it. But lord forbid Ocho and I have an opinion on something, now we can’t get no guests to come on.”
Sharpe did not reveal which agency he clashed with, and his explanation of the interaction was relatively brief.
“We said some things last year, Ocho and I. We had a discussion,” he said. “And the agents reached out and said, ‘We’re not going to allow them to come on [your] platform.'”
Sharpe added that Nightcap has had no issue booking guests from track and field or swimming, but the agency, which represents clients in both the NFL and NBA, has created a significant roadblock to booking athletes from those leagues. The former FS1 and ESPN commentator noted that interviews on Nightcap are almost entirely celebratory, and he doesn’t put athletes in bad positions by forcing them to talk about controversies or politics.
A few minutes into his rant, Sharpe’s comments took a different turn, suddenly pivoting toward the recent controversy around the rapper Macklemore, who was taken off a national stadium tour after NFL owners, led by Robert Kraft, reportedly banded together to ban him from performing at their venues. Kraft, a longtime advocate and donor for Israeli sovereignty, reacted strongly to Macklemore’s fervent support for the Palestinian people during his first performances opening for popular British singer Ed Sheeran.
“When they said they didn’t black-ball, it’s being reported that when Macklemore said what he said, and Mr. Kraft did what he did, he reached out to several others than Ed Sheeran’s going to be at their stadiums,” Sharpe explained. “And he said, ‘Well, if you don’t get him off this show, guess what? You can’t come here either.’ But it’s so far-fetched, it’s so hard to believe, that’s a legend! They don’t want the truth.”
Sharpe then expressed frustration at the conversation around the plight of Black people in America, as compared to other “atrocities” in world history.
“Any time you say something, ‘That’s this, that’s that,'” he said.
“But lord forbid, we’re the only race that’s ever been asked to forget the most, even if you go back, and I don’t like comparing atrocities … but we’re the only one that says, ‘Forget about it.’ Nobody else has ever been asked to forget about a tragedy or genocide that happened to them. We’re the only ones. But that’s what happened, chat. That is why we don’t get a lot of these athletes to come on. Because their agents have refused to let them come on.”
Sharpe did not specify what the “conversation” was that led NFL agents to restrict their clients’ appearances last year — or how it related to the situation between Macklemore and NFL owners.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is an Editorial Lead at Awful Announcing overseeing digital content and special projects. He lives in Phoenix and has covered sports media for Awful Announcing since 2023.