Stephen A. Smith Speaks Out on Shannon Sharpe After His ‘First Take’ Absence Amid Rape Lawsuit – The Hollywood Reporter
2025-04-25T23:58:33Z
Smith said on his YouTube show that Sharpe is a friend, and that he hopes the suit gets resolved so that they can continue working together.
ESPN First Take host Stephen A. Smith addressed the decision by Shannon Sharpe and ESPN to have the former NFL star take a break from the daily sports opinion show after facing allegations of rape in a lawsuit.
Sharpe, who denied the allegations, said that he would temporarily step aside from his ESPN duties to respond to the suit, adding that he hoped to return in time for the NFL season.
Smith, on his YouTube show, addressed the allegations and Sharpe’s decision to step away for the first time, emphasizing his personal friendship with the analyst and Club Shay Shay host.
“Do I believe that Shannon Sharpe is guilty of what he has been accused of? Absolutely not. That is my personal opinion,” Smith said. “The brother that I’ve come to know, I don’t believe would assault or rape anybody, and I’m going to state that emphatically, but just as emphatically, I’m going to remind everybody it is my opinion, because of what I feel about him, and not in any way imply that I know a damn thing beyond that, because I don’t know.”
“I’ll always be here for him if he needs me. Just the same way I said that about Skip Bayless when he departed from Fox, just the same way that I would say about any of my friends,” Smith added. “That’s what friends do, even in the toughest of times, sometimes especially the toughest of times, they ain’t telling you you’re right all the time, and hell, sometimes they may not stop you from falling into that abyss, but they’re there to lift you up when nobody else will.”
Smith added that he understood why Sharpe had to step back from his ESPN role.
“It’s been a difficult week from a sports media perspective, certainly as it pertains to First Take, Shannon Sharpe became a friend when I recruited him to come on board on ESPN First Take, he came on board, and he did a sensational job … he helped take it to another level last year, and we were doing our thing this year as well,” Smith said. “And so when the news came down that he and ESPN had mutually agreed that he would need to come off the airwaves of ESPN, it was a blow, a blow to the show, a blow to me personally, because I’m going to miss him, but it was not a surprise.
“I’ve been at Disney since October of 2003. I know this place. I know the worldwide leader that is ESPN,” Smith added, noting that he did take a two year break from ESPN beginning in 2009. “They didn’t need any definitive evidence at this particular moment in time about all of that stuff, once all the things Shannon Sharpe’s lawyer put out there, it was uncomfortable to listen to, and it was not something that Walt Disney wants associated with its brand. So to have him on the airwaves while all of that stuff was put out, that was not something that Disney was going to take. That is what I mean when I say I’m not surprised.”
And Smith ended his segment by hoping that Sharpe would return to TV.
“That’s all I have to say, other than I hope he’s back in this business real soon on linear television talking some football, because that man knows his football,” Smith said. “And he certainly knows how to entertain us while he’s talking about football. I’m gonna miss him.”
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