Shannon Sharpe, a prominent ESPN personality and former NFL Hall of Famer, issued a public apology on Thursday after a compromising audio recording was inadvertently broadcast on Instagram Live. The incident sparked widespread attention on Wednesday, with Sharpe initially claiming his account had been hacked.
However, in a candid admission on an emergency episode of Nightcap, Sharpe revealed that the intimate audio was indeed his, and that he had mistakenly left his Instagram Live on during a private moment with a woman. “I’m extremely private, and to have one of my most intimate moments shared with the world, I’m embarrassed,” he said.
Sharpe expressed disappointment in himself, not for the act itself, but for the unprofessionalism of allowing the audio to be broadcast. “I let a lot of people down,” he acknowledged. According to Sharpe, he had thrown his phone on the bed during the intimate session, unaware that Instagram Live was still active.
Sharpe’s marketing partner, Jamie Fritz, alerted him to the situation, prompting him to end the live video. Sharpe emphasized that the incident was not a prank or a hack, but rather a mistake on his part. Fellow sports personality Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson reacted to the situation, expressing disappointment and surprise at Sharpe’s uncharacteristic misstep.
