Stephen A. Smith addresses uncomfortable Shannon…
Stephen A. Smith has damaged his silence on the rape allegations in opposition to his ESPN colleague Shannon Sharpe.
On his self-titled podcast launched Tuesday, Smith spent almost 20 minutes discussing the subject, calling it a “sad situation.”
“Shannon Sharpe is somebody I work with a couple of days a week. Shannon Sharpe is somebody I brought to ESPN … We’ve grown close as friends … I certainly root for him,” he stated.
Sharpe denied the accusations Monday by means of his lawyer, Lanny J. Davis and doubled down on his denial in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday.
An unsure Smith, who has labored with Sharpe on “First Take” since September 2023, stated he couldn’t “speak to his innocence or guilt from a knowledgeable place.”
“Even though I got love and respect for Shannon Sharpe, and I’m sincerely hopeful and prayerful that he is completely innocent of the allegations that have been levied against him,” he added,
Smith admitted that he was “a bit torn” on Sharpe’s response, first giving credence to Sharpe’s argument that the accuser’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, who additionally represented plaintiffs within the Jay-Z, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Deshaun Watson circumstances, “targets black men.”
Stephen A. Smith spoke out on the rape allegations in opposition to Shannon Sharpe on Tuesday. Getty Images
But he later questioned how Sharpe has dealt with the scenario since information broke of the lawsuit on Monday morning.
“On one hand, going on the offensive to defend himself, I completely understand where Shannon Sharpe is coming from,” Smith stated. “On the other hand, when his legal team issued out the press release on X yesterday and they spoke about (her), they mentioned her name, and they revealed some of those explicit text messages. That was uncomfortable. And I don’t know if that’s a strategy that will work.”
In a number of press releases, Davis named the accuser and unveiled a sequence of specific texts allegedly despatched by Sharpe’s accuser, which Davis argues are indicative of a consensual relationship that included “role-playing” and “fantasy.”
Former NFL participant Shannon Sharpe is seen on the set of The NFL Network alongside Radio Row on February 05, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Getty Images
Davis stated his consumer was keen to pay the plaintiff “at least $10 million” in a settlement for her silence as the 2 sides had been within the midst of a mediation previous to the lawsuit.
Smith added that he had spoken to Sharpe because the allegations emerged and he “emphatically” denied claims.
“In my perfect world, [Sharpe] moves on and somehow, some way, we find this all to be false,” Smith stated. “But it doesn’t seem like that’s the way things are about to go down, considering how Mr. Buzbee is and how emphatic his client is proclaiming that she is right and she is telling the truth. I don’t know where this is going to go. I can’t speak to anything else.”
Sharpe appeared on “First Take” on Tuesday, however Smith admitted that the Worldwide Leader nonetheless has choices to make on the problem.
ESPN advised The Post it had “no comment” on the scenario on Monday.
“I have no idea what direction ESPN will go in when it comes to this matter,” Smith stated. “All I do know is it won’t be me making the decision. It will be others upstairs. In the end, all of us have someone to answer to. No matter how maverick we try to be.”
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