NFL Hall of Famer leans into romantic act streaming accident after initial embarrassment

Prominent sports analyst and NFL Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe was in the news in mid-September for a surprising reason. It wasn’t for one of his opinions regarding the NFL season, or for his undying allegiance to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Instead, he streamed an act of love live on social media, which set the sports and gossip world into a frenzy.

Anyone who did catch the footage of Sharpe in a private moment didn’t actually see all that much. In fact, no person could be seen at all from the direction the phone video camera was pointing.

However, a woman who was with Sharpe in the intimate moment could be audibly heard, as well as sounds coming from the former NFL tight end.

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Followers who jumped onto the livestream on Instagram Live could not believe what they were hearing. The New York Post cited one commentator saying, “Hang up the phone Big Unc.”

Sharpe had to think quickly to say something after the awkward situation presented itself. He took the video down, and posted to his story, “Beware my Instagram was hacked this morning, my team and I are working vigorously to figure this out.”

It would shortly come to light that Sharpe was not in fact hacked as he initially said he was. Sports Illustrated captured his confession, “My heart sank. I called my agent, I called the agency, I called ESPN and I just told them the truth. My phone wasn’t hacked, it wasn’t a prank, it was me being a healthy, active male.”

Sharpe went on to say, “Obviously, I am embarrassed. Someone that is 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.”

Sharpe would say on his Nightcap podcast, “There are a lot of people that count on me to be professional at all times… Even when I’m behind closed doors. I’m very disappointed in myself… I let a lot of people down… My kids… This was not staged, I came in, threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity… I’ve never turned IG live on before…”

Sharpe is most widely known as Stephen A. Smith’s main partner on ESPN’s flagship sports debate show, First Take. ESPN decided not to punish Sharpe to the social media episode, and he was back on the show the following week to give his thoughts on the recently completed NFL weekend.

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The shock of what happened to Sharpe eventually wore off, as he would speak more jovially about the matter on Nightcap with former NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco.

After saying that he was sorry that he put his family members in that position, Sharpe patted himself on the back for still being able to perform in such an activity at age 56. Ochocinco then quickly jumped in to say, “hey, ain’t nothing wrong with your hips.”

During the audio, someone named “Michelle” seemed to be with Sharpe at the time IG Live was turned on. Sharpe asked for news media and others to stop reviewing his followers and who he followed in order to deduce which “Michelle” was with him during the viral video. “You’re never going to figure it out,” Sharpe said. “Stop arbitrarily calling people named Michelle.”

Ochocinco told Sharpe he had definitely been wondering who joined him in the video. “Honestly, I was thinking of all Michelle’s it could possibly be. I was thinking Michelle Pfeiffer, Kate Michelle… I’m trying to think of other Michelles that are high caliber, top tier women that you would give an opportunity to bungee jump in like that…”

Ochocinco continued, “Ain’t nothing wrong with your hip, but we gotta work on your cardio. Because you were breathing heavy, you shouldn’t be breathing heavy.” Sharpe, who was clearly more comfortable talking about the event, responded, “Ocho, I was already knee-deep for about 25 (minutes).”

Shannon Sharpe is a three-time Super Bowl champion who spent 12 seasons with the Denver Broncos, and two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He’s an eight-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro, as noted by Football Reference.

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The Instagram Live fiasco happened shortly after Sharpe’s one-year anniversary with ESPN. The network brought him in after his tenure with Fox Sports ended in the summer of 2023.