Shannon Sharpe, the former NFL star cum ESPN analyst and co-host of the Nightcap Show, has inadvertently become an internet sensation after his Instagram account got hacked. An intimate five-minute video of him went viral, in which a woman, seemingly named Michelle, can be heard making suggestive sounds while engaging in what many think is a se*ual activity, possibly with Sharpe.
As soon as he caught wind of what happened, Shannon Sharpe responded to it via a now-deleted Instagram story, claiming to his 3 million+ followers it was a mistake and his account had been hacked. He also revealed that his team was "working vigorously to figure this out." However, on his podcast, he told co-host Chad Johnson it was his mistake. He said at the 8:40 minute mark,
"I'm disappointed in myself. I let a lot of people down. This was not staged. I came in, I threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity. I did not know IG Live. I've never been on IG Live. I've never turned IG Live on, so I don't know how it works."
He also added that he was embarrassed about the incident, noting that he is an "extremely, extremely private" person. Regardless, the video made its way to X, and the internet was cutthroat as ever, reacting with a flurry of memes. When someone on X joked that Shannon has finally "beat the zesty allegations," one user retorted, saying:
Twitter strikes as intimate video of Shannon Sharpe goes viral
Many took to X to react hilariously at the whole fiasco, with some joking that he has finally proved himself straight, pun intended. However, several others questioned whether the incident was an accident in the first place.
Shannon Sharpe jokes, "Nobody was harmed in making of this audio."
As the men continued chitchatting on the podcast, Shannon Sharpe joked that he would never do "it" with the phone next to him. Instead, he would keep the phone in the car.
"Oh I'm going to repeat that act, but the phone gon' be in the car. That's the only lesson I'm thinking about."
The men continued joking, with Johnson trying to cheer the veteran up instead, quipping that he needed to work on his cardio, based on the breathing heard from the video. He said, at the 19:30 minute mark,
"We've got to work on your cardio because you was breathing heavy. You shouldn't be breathing that heavy."
Shannon Sharpe then joked about the situation, claiming that "nobody was harmed in the makin' of this audio." He joked that she might have needed an ice pack but nothing more serious.
Thus far, there is no news on how ESPN has responded to the news of his video going viral. However, ESPN, a family network, has been known to be stringent in such cases. Previously, Paul Pierce was let go after he took to Instagram Live to show off his great time at an adult party. While there was nothing offensive about the video itself, it featured visuals of gambling, alcohol, and a lot of women.
