Shannon Sharpe Addresses Skip Bayless' Damar Hamlin Tweet In 'Undisputed' Return After Taking Tuesday Off

Two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said Bayless was focusing on the wrong thing.

I hope they fire you bro!!! For you to even THINK of the game is very sad.

— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) January 3, 2023

Jacksonville Jaguars punter Logan Cooke commented that players were humans and “not just numbers.”

This is the most inconsiderate thing you could have said. We are human beings not just numbers. You’ve obviously never stepped foot in a locker room or been apart of a family like this. We are a band of brothers! Get over yourself man… Praying hard for Damar and his family!

— Logan Cooke (@LoganCooke2) January 3, 2023

Bayless explained the tweet as he sat in the hot seat on Tuesday’s show.

He acknowledged Sharpe being absent. “Obviously, my partner, Shannon Sharpe, is not here today. I look forward to seeing him tomorrow,” he said.

Bayless also apologized to viewers about the sensitive topic of the broadcast.

“I apologize for what we’re going to set out to do here today, if it offends anyone, because we’re going to try to do the show pretty much as we usually do the show,” he added. “But I’ll admit up front, I’m still shook up by what happened last night to Damar Hamlin. In fact, I’m still wrecked. In fact, I’m not sure I’m capable of doing this show today.”

“But after barely sleeping on it, I decided to give it a try,” he continued. “Maybe I’ll fail, maybe we will fail, but we’re going to try. We wrestled through much of the night, whether to even do a show today because it felt like, in our minds, we almost can’t win with this because the last thing we want to try to do is come off as insensitive to what this young man is going through in a life or death situation. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone by trying to do what we always do, which is talk about sports.”

Skip Bayless is without Shannon Sharpe for Undisputed today.

He attempted to apologize for the discussion surrounding Damar Hamlin last night and on today’s show. pic.twitter.com/MTg7w0gafx

— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) January 3, 2023

Sharpe returned to his seat at the Undisputed desk Wednesday. Within moments of the show’s opening, everything went left.

“Watching that game on Monday night, what happened to Damar Hamlin struck me a little different,” Sharpe said.

He mentioned that he had experienced fellow players come off the field with injuries, but seeing someone have to be revived was “totally different.”

Sharpe then clarified that he disagreed with Bayless’ tweet and hoped he “would take it down.”

Before he could continue with his monologue, Bayless interrupted him.

“Time out. I’m not going to take it down because I stand by what I tweeted,” Bayless said.

Annoyed that his co-host interjected, Sharpe replied, “I cannot even get through a monologue without you interrupting me.”

Sharpe spoke with frustration, explaining that his reason for being absent Tuesday was that he wanted the show to be about Hamlin and not Skip’s tweet.

“I didn’t want, yesterday, to get into a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We should have been talking about him, and not get into your tweet. That’s what I was gonna do. But you can’t even let me finish my opening monologue without you interrupting.”

Bayless attempted to defend himself, stating that he was “under the impression you weren’t going to bring this up.”

He also added that he thought no one at the show had an issue with his statement.

Realizing they weren’t going to agree, Sharpe called for production to continue.

On this morning’s episode of Undisputed, Shannon Sharpe opened his monologue and was interrupted by co-host Skip Bayless.

Sharpe said he wished Bayless took down the tweet. Bayless said he refuses to do so.

The relationship appears beyond reparable. pic.twitter.com/Jhq99nkXBt

— Colin Kaepernick 7️⃣ Was Exiled Exercising Rights (@RickStrom) January 4, 2023