Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless are officially breaking up.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer-turned-talk-show head has reached a contract buyout agreement with Fox Sports to end his seven-year run alongside Bayless on “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed,” according to a report from the New York Post:
Sharpe’s final show is expected to be after the NBA Finals ends in June. He will also reportedly be taking his “Club Shay Shay” podcast with him from Fox Sports.
Back in 2016, Fox Sports signed Skip Bayless from ESPN and paired him with Sharpe, who was previously a NFL commentator for CBS. The partnership had its highs and lows. As the NY Post points out, there was some very public friction between Sharpe and Skip in the fallout of the Damar Hamlin incident, in which the Buffalo Bills safety went into cardiac arrest during a game last January and had to be taken the hospital. Like many, Sharpe was very disturbed by the sight of a young man nearly dying on the field. He was also apparently incensed by a widely criticized tweet from Bayless asking if the NFL could really postpone the rest of the Monday night game, given its timing and stakes in the playoff race.
Less than half a year later, it appears that Sharpe is on his way out at Fox, while Bayless remains on the four-year, $32 million contract he signed in March 2021.
It’s unclear where Sharpe goes from here.
