Stephen A. Smith Reveals Why ESPN Won’t Fire Shannon Sharpe After Paul Pierce’s Furious Call Out Over IG Incident

Shannon Sharpe dodges the bullet this time! A few hours ago, the NFL legend found himself in a cramped situation following his controversial Instagram Live. The 56-year-old reportedly left his IG live on mistakenly while having s-x with a woman. While everyone expected ESPN to drop a drastic decision following the incident, the network shrugged it off, of course, offending their ex-employee, Paul Pierce. While the Boston Celtics legend blew the whistle, Stephen A. Smith interfered to calm the situation.

Paul Pierce was involved in a similar situation in 2021, where he went on IG live during a house party. The live video featured Pierce dancing with adult entertainers. The problem immediately escalated, as ESPN found the legend to be breaching the network’s morality clause and instantly fired him. While he expected the company to provide a similar judgment, he was furious in response to the silence. And Pierce let his anger out via the IG story, accusing ESPN of “favoritism”.

Amid this rage and speculations about ESPN firing Sharpe, Smith took to his podcast show to clear the air. In the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, the veteran analyst said, “I’m the executive producer for First Take so if something was gonna happen to him with regards to ESPN, I’d be one of the first to know. I was on the phone with the bosses yesterday and you know, nothing’s gonna happen.” 

Following that, Smith even tried to defend Sharpe, stressing that the NFL legend turned IG Live by mistake. Smith continued, “To be honest with you, because nothing should happen, let me be the first to say that. Shannon Sharpe committed no crime. It wasn’t some s-x tape that he meant for everybody to hear. That’s not how he rose. I’ve gotten to know him personally. That’s not who he is.”

“I would’ve fought like hell” – Smith’s promise to Shannon Sharpe

This isn’t the first time when Stephen A. Smith went all the way out to stand up for Shannon Sharpe. For instance, a few months ago, Sharpe and Shaquille O’Neal engaged in an ugly beef when the NFL legend called Shaq “jealous” of Nikola Jokić. While the two sporting legends had a lot of back and forth, Smith interfered with his podcast show and attempted to dilute the issue.

And now, Smith has gone a step further and declared to go to any extent to save his colleague. The media veteran added, “If something had happened where he was going to be in a world of trouble I would have fought like hell to make sure nothing came of it because again there’s no video and he was living his private life and it was a mistake.” 

Moreover, Smith didn’t stop at that. He further went on to say that Sharpe was “clueless” about the technicalities involved in social media. Smith backed it up, saying that Sharpe operated his social media with the help of others. Above all, Unc Sharpe has found his way out of ESPN’s dismissal. The only thing is, he has to keep his mobile phone at a far-off distance when is at his personal business!

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.