While ESPN decided to keep Shannon Sharpe on board after she accidentally went live on Instagram while having sex, other partners and guests are on the verge of cutting ties with the First Take host.
On Wednesday, Sharpe’s Instagram account began streaming as he was heard having sex with a woman he called “Michelle.” That night, Sharpe went on his Nightcap show and admitted to what he called an accident after his team initially claimed he had been hacked.
As the scandal continues to circulate, Sharpe went on the show Thursday and revealed how people and companies refuse to affiliate with him after the incident.
“People are trying to say it was staged,” Sharpe said. “I lost an interview today at Club ShayShay, which would have been the most visible person I would have been able to interview to date. They said no.
“We have six- and seven-figure sponsors and advertisers who say, ‘Shannon, we don’t know if we want to continue this relationship,'” she continued.
Shannon Sharpe claims advertisers are pulling out of her podcast amid sex tape scandal
Sharpe went live on his Instagram while having an intimate moment with a woman.
“My company, ShayShay Media, is about to become a free agent, which means we can take Nightcap and Club ShayShay wherever we want,” Sharpe added.
‘So do you think I’d be willing to risk spending $170 million to $200 million over the next five to seven years to do this? Would you be willing to risk $200 million?’
Earlier on Thursday, Jason Whitlock called Sharpe a “master tease” before claiming the “accident” was planned to attract views and combat rumours about his sexuality.
“He’s a master at the art of provocation,” Whitlock said. “Late at night, he’ll go on Nightcap and confess and attract 185, 190, 200,000 live viewers on YouTube, which is a huge number.”
‘And people have been thinking, ‘Was this leaked intentionally to gain publicity? Was this leaked intentionally to combat rumors that Shannon Sharpe is gay? Those rumors have been circulating for quite some time.’
Jason Whitlock suggested that Sharpe intentionally broadcast himself having sex to get views.
During the highly-watched episode of Nightcap, Sharpe said he threw his phone onto the bed and had no idea it had started a live stream of the ceiling while Sharpe and the woman were having sexual activity.
While Sharpe highlighted his difficulties with the technology, co-host Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson pointed out how starting a live stream requires several steps and would rarely happen by accident.
As for the rumours about his sexuality, Sharpe revealed that he received a call from comedian Kat Williams, who joked that he was with ‘Michelle’ and not ‘Michael’.
Sharpe was not present for Thursday’s episode of First Take, which was hosted by Stephen A. Smith and featured Dan Orlovsky, on what is understood to be a planned day off. However, he is expected to return to ESPN on Monday, which falls in line with his regular schedule.