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I will not be returning to ESPN. It is a massive fall from grace. His relationship with ESPN, it is officially over. This is is what the headlines going to be for the next couple of days. Denying the allegations, labeling the move a shakeddown. I thank all my fans for supporting me. That all happens around someone and they are not likely to return to Disney. It's official. Shannon Sharp needs cash. Hey, you know pockets light right now with your pocket light right now. Just say pockets light. Shannon Sharp had it all. A Hall of Fame NFL career, three Super Bowl rings. He got out at FS1 and left Skip Bis in the dust at the exact right moment. His personal media empire was booming alongside a lucrative career at ESPN. Then it all came crashing down, crumbling faster than a linebacker trying to cover the dynamic tight end himself. And it was his tight end that cost him his career at ESPN. ESPN fired Shannon Sharp recently uh after Sharp settled a lawsuit that accused him of rape. Today, I'll break down what went wrong for Sharp and why he will actually be fine without ESPN. Sort of. More alarmingly, I'll reveal how almost everyone who sits opposite Stephen A. Smith gets fired or arrested, which is why you have never seen Stephen A. Smith look into a mirror. So today, hi Brandon Pera, the world's best 5 foot8 football talking guy. We'll dive into how Shannon Sharp probably got played, but how he also really has nobody else to blame but himself and what this cost him at ESPN here on That's Good Sports, where you must subscribe first or I won't do the thing. I won't do it until you subscribe. Okay, I'll do it.
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[Music] The Shannon Sharp lawsuit became public all the way back in April. He stepped away from ESPN after details of the lawsuit became public and an audio recording of him was released. Then we heard nothing for months. The first sign that a settlement was likely was when the defendant's attorney was a no-show at the first court date for the lawsuit. Imagine showing up to court and your attorney just isn't there, forcing you to ask for a recess so you can quickly learn the law and represent yourself like Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting. I am afforded the right to speak in my own defense, sir. That would be a a pretty cool movie, actually. Your honor, I can assure you that this will be our final argument. But let's back up and take a moment to recall why Shannon Sharp actually went to court and make sense of what this civil suit was actually about that led to his firing. Shannon Sharp, the Broncos Hall of Famer, was facing a sexual assault civil lawsuit from a woman identified as Jane Doe, who alleged he assaulted her multiple times during a nearly 2-year relationship. We later learned that she was an Only Fans model named Gabriella Zuniga. Despite Sharp's repeated denials, and his attorney's claim that he previously offered a $10 million settlement to her, his legal team originally waited to make an official response to the complaint. The lawsuit filed by Tony Busby, who represented many of Deshun Watson's accusers, caused Sharp to take a step back from his ESPN appearances. And now we know he's not returning to the network as they fired him.
If you'll recall, Sharp provided a list of text exchanges with the woman that referred to terms like baby gravy, the single most vile euphemism I've ever heard in my life. I'll never be able to eat Cracker Barrels all day breakfast again after hearing that. And I think there should be a class action lawsuit on behalf of everyone who had to read those words again. Sharpside claims the relationship was consensual and that Sharp and the alleged victim had a dominant/submissive thing going on which they have attempted to lay out with texts from their side. I think it's safe to say at this point that's what the relationship was based on the texts and the admittance from both parties. Uh Sharp's lawyer though, Lanny Davis, conceded that Sharp previously offered a $10 million settlement to the accuser. In a recording obtained by People magazine, a voice resembling Sharps is uh ostensibly heard threatening physical harm to the accuser with the words, "If you say that word one more time, I'm going to [ __ ] choke the [ __ ] out of you when I see you." Sharp denied the allegations and the case was eventually resolved out of court on July 18th and it was dismissed with prejudice uh meaning that it could not be refiled at any point. If Shannon was guilty of sexual assault, in no world should he have a job at ESPN, nor should he get to continue his YouTube career. And I'm saying that because all I've seen anyone do is laugh at him for getting played by a young woman in a cash grab. Maybe that's true, maybe not. None of us know. None of us have been privy to all of the details. And the clip of Miss Mon'nique warning Shannon Sharp about his bedroom activities has been shared thousands and thousands of times. You don't need no 26-year-old girl. You don't need no 36-y old girl. You're trying to hang out with these young [ __ ] and you can't do it, Shannon. You just can't do it.
What has been lost in this and what I was not aware of is that Shannon has been down this road before. Back in 2010, he was a host on CBS Sports where, stop me if this sounds familiar, Sharp had reportedly decided to step aside from his gig at the network after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her and threatening her life. Her name was Michelle Bundy, no relation to Ted or Al, and she filed a restraining order against Shannon Sharp. That restraining order was eventually dismissed and she was painted as someone who is infatuated with Sharp and that there were a bunch of issues with her. Like this most recent case, who knows what's true and what is not. What I do know is that if Sharp had that incident in his past, he should have been smart enough to not be sending the texts he was sending, having the phone conversations he was having, and again, accidentally live streaming the audio of himself having sex. Money and power makes people [ __ ] dumb. Uh, yes, it also makes some targets, but you better protect yourself instead of opening up that bullseye like I think Sharp did. We don't know the financial terms of the final settlement other than it's believed it was significantly less than the 50 million uh that they were seeking, and there was no admission of guilt from the Hall of Fame tight end. Tony Busby, the defendant's lawyer, was quoted, "After protracted and respectful negotiations, I'm pleased to announce that we have reached a mutually agreed upon resolution. All matters have now been addressed satisfactorily, and uh the matter is closed." Sharp also went after Tony Busby, who he claimed made a living off of targeting black men. Busby is of course famous for spearheading the cases against Deshun Watson, which appeared to be credible looking back at it several years later. Still, Sharp said that Busby goes after black men like Jay-Z and has vowed to sue him for defamation. I think the truth is that Busby, because he works on a contingency rather than working on retainer, goes after the strongest cases he has that have a chance to be settled out of court where he can collect a 40% fee for his services. Busby went after Deep Water Horizon after the 2010 oil spill, and I think the only throughine for his career is that he goes after defendants with deep pockets. And so far that has included sharp JZ, Travis Scott, and Deshun Watson. On his wall, articles on court victories and high dollar settlements against big oil companies. I wouldn't exactly make the case that Busby is the most reputable attorney in our country or that his motivation is always justice, but I couldn't go as far as to say he targets black men. Just rich black men. Something I will never be. Thanks, Mom.
After the settlement was reached, Gabriella Zuniga announced her retirement from Only Fans. People are are old enough to be retiring from Only Fans now. Holy [ __ ] Get off my lawn. I've fallen and I can't get up. A retired Only Fans model. Too old for Bill Bich. That's all I know. Anyway, she posted, "Today, I have decided to retire from Only Fans. Thank you for the incredible support you've shown me over the past few years. This community has given me a life I could have never imagined." She wrote, "Uh, I'll still be active on social media and have several new projects in the works that I can't wait to share. I'm truly excited for this next chapter. I love you all forever and ever." With this retirement announcement, uh, we'll all be waiting five years to see whether or not she gets that Only Fans gold jacket. I find it fascinating that someone who just settled a sexual assault lawsuit would then be teasing the exciting projects they have coming up. Anyway, after that, ESPN announced that it would not be renewing Sharp's contract, which ended his time with the network at the end of July. Of course, Sharp was let go from ESPN just days before his brother Sterling was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Wait until Monday. Brothers going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I really wanted to be about him and I wanted to be about my family, which I think was shitty timing on behalf of the network. Don't get me wrong, they don't owe the courtesy to Shannon, but Sterling Sharp has long been waiting to enter the hall after a remarkable career was cut short by injuries. And if anything else, I do think it managed to take away from the defining moment of his post NFL life, which he then made a little awkward when talking about hair and makeup during the Hall of Fame game. Melissa and I had had a wonderful years in NFL Network. She spent a lot more time in the hair and makeup chair tonight, dude. But kill his mic. Let's get back to the game. Who's going to replace Shannon Sharp on First Take? That's a question some have. Well, maybe it will be Chad Johnson who called this shot on the show on July 30th. I'm gonna start probably September 5th if I'm not mistaken because Thursday Night Football first week, so I should be here Friday. Johnson is of course Shannon Sharp's co-host on the popular Night Cap podcast and we'll see if he actually gets the call from ESPN once the football season kicks off. Like with just about everything at ESPN currently, I'm nearly positive they'll make a decision that pisses off the general public. Welcome to the stain starring Justin Tucker and Deshawn Watson now airing on ESPN after first take.
Here's the odd thing. Shannon Sharp doesn't need ESPN to continue his media career. Right before this lawsuit, there were reports that Shannon was discussing a $100 million deal for his YouTube channels and podcasts. And those are Club Shay Shay and Nightcap, both uh boasting millions of subscribers on YouTube. He was on pace to land that insane deal while keeping his 6.5 million per year deal going at ESPN, which would have easily turned into 10 to 15 million per year at his next negotiating period with the company. Sharp though is a cautionary tale and that you should be extremely careful with who you involve yourself with when you become that successful. Something most of us will never really have to worry about. Conversely, this shows the power of building your own media brand, even if you land that dream job at ESPN. While being on ESPN would help significantly as Sharp continues to do his thing on YouTube, he doesn't need ESPN to make an incredible living. Yes, he fumbled the bag significantly. A big bag, but he's still going to be making millions of dollars every year, and advertisers won't be turned off because of his settlement. If you think he's entirely innocent, you can still support him by watching his show and in a few years when everyone forgets about this, maybe he has another 100 plus million dollar opportunity. That said, the way ESPN is going, he blew a massive opportunity to be one of the richest people in all of sports media. The deals ESPN just made with the NFL and WWE, holy [ __ ] you want to be on that ship right now. And Shannon is not. He's on a little speedboat. A nice speedboat, but ESPN's a [ __ ] giant cruise ship. Sure, everyone's going to get diarrhea from the Nora virus, but they'll be able to sustain the large waves of the ocean. Speedboat, nothing's guaranteed. I like boats. I like boats. Would you like me to talk more about boats? Fishing boats, pontoon boats, dingies? ESPN is smartly allowing their talent to build their own platforms on YouTube and being on ESPN regularly um helps with that. We're entering a world where you will see one of us get swooped up by ESPN while also being allowed to keep doing our thing on YouTube. Probably Tom Graci or Brett Coleman one day. Certainly won't be me. You're one of the good guys. I like boats. And while Shannon doesn't need that network, he lost a significant funnel to his own brand, a security blanket.
Perhaps at the end of the day, it's Stephen A. Smith who's the curse. Skip has had a massive fall from grace. Former NBA player Marcus Morris was recently arrested. Baller busted an NBA veteran Marcus Morris arrested right here in South Florida for fraud. Sharp just had his legal troubles resolved. And now Gilbert Arenus was arrested on federal indictment. Oh yeah, let's talk about that. But in another episode because murder actually opened up that case for Gil Arenas. And when I was looking through it, I was like, this has got to be its own thing. Hopefully I can get to it this week. Thanks for watching. That's good sports. Please subscribe here. Make sure you show some love to the people who help make this channel hum. Will Keys who helps write everything you see here. Johnny Barks, who helps edit everything. Well, actually, I think Connor edited this video. Connor's new. and Rachel who did all the new lo cursed logos for the 2025