The NFL community and its legions of fans watched in horror Monday night as Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field following a collision, and had to be resuscitated by emergency medical personnel before being rushed to a nearby hospital. We’ve watched the league skirt around the issue of concussions in the past, but rarely do you see a professional football player go into cardiac arrest on the field, in front of a packed stadium, on Monday Night Football. Fans and media tracking updates on Hamlin’s condition tweeted endless support for his health… but Undisputed co-host Skip Bayless -- who has faced cancellation before -- Tweeted wondering how the game might be made up this late in the season. This angered many, including (we assumed), Bayless’ Undisputed co-host and an NFL veteran Shannon Sharpe.
The flames of speculation spread on Tuesday because Shannon Sharpe didn’t appear on Undisputed, leaving hosting duties to Skip Bayless. The host addressed the insensitive Tweet without completely apologizing for it, saying that his intent was misconstrued. Well, Sharpe was back on the program today, and was given the floor to address his absence. As you can see, via this Tweet from TheNBACentral, it didn’t go well:
Shannon Sharpe is fed up with Skip Bayless 😬 pic.twitter.com/h5UYVaCXxGJanuary 4, 2023
As you can see, right around the time that Shannon Sharpe gets to the point of his statement that he would have liked for Skip Bayless to take the Tweet down, Bayless interrupts with a “time out,” and says that he has no intention of taking the Tweet down because he stands by what he said in the Tweet. Bayless is known for his hot takes, and has been for years now. But doubling down on the message of the Tweet is not necessary while Sharpe is having his turn to weigh in on the matter. He’s an ex-football player, and his insights into an on-field injury likely would resonate with a number of people watching. And yes, it’s the nature of the show Undisputed for these two hosts to constantly interrupt each other. But this time was too much for Sharpe.
The former NFL player fired back at Skip Bayless:
I mean, I can not even get through a monologue without you interrupting me. You could have came back… Skip? Skip? I was just going to say, Skip, I didn’t want for yesterday to have (become) a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We should have been talking about him, and not get into your Tweet. That’s what I was going to do. But you can’t even let me finish my opening monologue without you interrupting.
Things got uglier, and seemingly more real, as the conversation continued. The seemingly offended Skip Bayless accused Shannon Sharpe of agreeing before the taping to not bring up the Tweet, because he thought management had no issue with what was said in the message. However, if Bayless just looked around social media, he’d find plenty of people who took issue with his Tweet, including several pro athletes who are calling for him to be fired. At the very least, the network could suspend him the way ESPN did to Bill Simmons back in the day.
WE NEED TO CANCEL @RealSkipBayless ASAP!!!January 3, 2023
Fallout from this is likely to continue, and what’s more sad is that controversy like this only improves the ratings on a show like Undisputed and encourages Skip Bayless and hosts like him to say and do crazier things to keep the discourse heated. Meanwhile, all that really matters are updates from the Buffalo Bills like this one:
Damar remains in the ICU in critical condition with signs of improvement noted yesterday and overnight.He is expected to remain under intensive care as his health care team continues to monitor and treat him.January 4, 2023
We will continue to track Damar Hamlin’s progress as the story unfolds.
