Shannon Sharpe says infamous Skip Bayless spat over Tom Brady led to his Undisputed exit as he admits being ‘really, really hurt’ by ex-TV partner: ‘He had lost ALL respect for me’

Shannon Sharpe has opened up on the on-air argument with Skip Bayless that triggered his sudden departure from FOX Sports and the show Undisputed.

Sharpe and Bayless spent seven years together on Undisputed before the former left earlier this summer and joined rival ESPN show First Take, with new colleague Stephen A. Smith claiming he was ‘pushed out’.

However, during an appearance on Smith’s podcast, Sharpe looked back at an infamous spat with Bayless which damaged their relationship and set the wheels in motion for his departure.

The moment in question saw Bayless insinuated that the former Broncos tight end was jealous of Tom Brady’s success, before rubbing salt in the wounds by saying he was simply not as good a player as the NFL legend. 

‘A lot of that is my fault,’ Sharpe said when asked by Smith about the breakdown in his relationship with Bayless.

Sharpe shed light on the incident that ended his tenure on Undisputed in a chat with new First Take colleague Stephen A. Smith

‘Because there were times that led up to that, that I felt that shots were taken and I let it go. And he felt that he could go over the top in that situation.

‘Whatever the relationship is once one partner has no respect for the other, the other partner then in turn loses respect for said partner. Then I think it’s only a matter of time.

‘Because I felt in that moment he [Skip Bayless] had lost all respect for me, he had no respect for me. 

‘This is Undisputed, Skip and Shannon, this is not yours. So it really, really hurt me.’ 

Sharpe is one of the most legendary tight ends in NFL history and a Hall of Famer so it should not be hard to understand why a statement like the one Bayless made on live TV would have triggered Sharpe to such an extent.

Since his famous departure Sharpe has joined ESPN and began making regular appearances on the show ‘First Take’ with Smith.

During the argument Bayless said that Sharpe was jealous of Tom Brady being a better player 

He and Bayless got into a heated argument live on Undisputed back in December of last year

Despite appearing to get along much better as friends than with Smith than he ever did with Bayless, Sharpe’s transition to ‘First Take has not been the smoothest.

Several times viewers have gotten on his case for accidentally calling Smith ‘Skip’ on-air, to the point that Smith recently took to X in order to defend his co-host. 

Bayless and Undisputed on the other hand took some time off and eventually replaced Sharpe with a rotating group consisting of Lil Wayne, Keyshawn Johnson, and Richard Sherman.