Shannon Sharpe Apologizes For Incident During Lakers-Grizzlies Game
Hall of Famer and broadcaster Shannon Sharpe went viral Friday night (Jan. 20) when he was involved in a heated argument with Memphis Grizzlies players during the team’s game against the Lakers in Los Angeles. Sharpe, who cohosts the FOX Sports show Undisputed with Skip Bayless, apologized for his behavior on Monday and addressed it on the show.
“You know, guys, I’ve preached for the last six-and-a-half years responsibility and accountability. I take full responsibility for what transpired,” Sharpe began. “It does not matter what Dillon Brooks said or how many times he said it. Me being the responsible person, me having the platform that I have and having so many people look up to me, I was wrong.”
“I should’ve lowered the temperature in the arena. Instead, I turned the temperature up and I let it get out of hand.”
He also apologized to the Lakers and Grizzlies organizations and to Brooks as well.
The incident occurred during the first half when Sharpe, who was sitting courtside, exchanged words with Dillion Brooks and Ja Morant just before halftime. Tee Morant, Ja’s father, also came into the argument as well as Steven Adams.
“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe told ESPN Friday. “They do all that talking and jockeying and I ain’t about that jockeying. It started with Dillon Brooks. I said he was too small to guard LeBron. He said, ‘F—‘ me. I said, ‘F— you’ back. He started to come at me and I said, ‘You don’t want these problems.'”
Tee Morant and Shannon Sharpe just cleared the air during the third quarter intermission pic.twitter.com/a6Hrg8AsH8
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 21, 2023
“And then Ja came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously didn’t want no problems. But I wanted anything they had. Don’t let these fools fool you now.”
Take a look at Sharpe’s full apology here: