After initially claiming he was hacked, NFL hall-of-famer Shannon Sharpe confessed to mistakenly livestreaming the audio of a bedroom romp to his 3.2 million Instagram followers.
His admission came late Wednesday during an episode of his “Nightcap” podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow former footballer Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.
“Obviously, I am embarrassed,” a solemn Sharpe said. “As someone that is extremely, 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.”
The ESPN contributor went on to say that he was disappointed in himself, and acknowledged that there are “a lot of people that count on Shannon to be professional at all times.”
Sharpe added: “I always try to be professional at all times, even when I’m behind closed doors.”
The sultry clip in question hit the internet earlier in the day Wednesday and almost immediately went viral, after thousands of people began commenting and re-posting the link to Sharpe’s Instagram account. While it does not depict any sex act — or imagery for that matter — an unidentified woman can be heard moaning throughout the livestream.
In a since-deleted post to X, Sharpe claimed that his account was hacked before coming clean on his podcast.
“Beware my @shannonsharpe84 Instagram was hacked this morning, my team and I are working vigorously to figure this out,” it said.
Sharpe also added that he was not aware at any point that his phone was recording, which he blamed on his lack of technology know-how.
“I threw my phone on the bed and engaged in an activity,” Sharpe said.
“I did not know IG live,” he continued. “I’ve never turned IG live on so I don’t know how it works and all of sudden my other phone started going off.”
Eventually, his marketing partner, Jamie Fritz, got ahold of Sharpe and alerted him to the situation.
“My heart sank,” he said. “I called my agent, I called the agency, I called ESPN and I [thought] just tell them the truth. My phone wasn’t hacked, it wasn’t a prank, it was me being a healthy, active male.”
Sharpe, who retired from the NFL in 2004, won three Super Bowls over the course of his 14-year career. The first two were with the Broncos, in 1997 and 1998, while the third was with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000. Since his departure from football, he has become a fixture in sports media, particularly through ESPN and the podcast he shares with Johnson.
