Shannon Sharpe ‘Disappointed’ and ‘Embarrassed’ After Lewd Live Stream
Shannon Sharpe has come clean about the bawdy video streamed from his Instagram Live on Wednesday afternoon which contained audio of him during a sexual encounter with an unidentified woman.
“Obviously, I am embarrassed,” Sharpe said on an “emergency” episode of his and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson’s Nightcap series. “Someone that is extremely, extremely private and to have one of your most intimate details—the audio—heard for the entire world to hear, I’m embarrassed for a number of reasons.”
Shortly after the clip streamed to hundreds of thousands of his fans, Sharpe issued a statement claiming that his account was “hacked” and that “my team and I are working vigorously to figure this out.” Moments later, that statement was deleted. At the time, many found Sharpe’s justification to be a bit far-fetched. “C'mon on Unc, you were hacked but you still posted this message on the same account?” one fan queried.
On Wednesday night, Sharpe admitted that the hacking story was untrue. “It was just me being a healthy, active male,” he clarified, before admitting that it was his lack of technological awareness which led to the incident.
“I threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity,” the ESPN broadcaster explained. “I did not know IG Live. I’ve never turned IG Live on so I don’t know how it works, and all of sudden my other phone started going off.” It was one of Sharpe’s marketing managers, alerting him to the saucy stream. A third person was then able to end the livestream.
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“My phone wasn’t hacked. It wasn’t a prank, it was me being a healthy, active male,” Sharpe said. “Ya’ll thought I was bulljiving, Unc get it in.”
Sharpe continued: “There are a lot of people that count on Shannon to be professional at all times, and I always try to be professional at all times, even when I’m behind closed doors. I’m very disappointed in myself, not for the act. I think there are millions and billions of people of consenting age that engage in activities, but for the audio to be heard I’m disappointed in myself. I let a lot of people down.”
While Sharpe sounded contrite during his proper apology, it didn’t stop him and his co-host from making light of the situation near the end of the program. After Ochocinco ribbed Sharpe, telling him he’s “not mad,” just “disappointed because I hold you to a higher standard,” both men read an innuendo-laden commercial for a male enhancement product which regularly sponsors the program.
