*Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless say Fox Sports, not either host, ended “Undisputed” in 2023. The former FS1 co-hosts reunited on “Club Shay Shay” to discuss the matter.
Sharpe says he never asked to leave. “They didn’t give me much of a choice in the matter,” he said, according to Awful Announcing. “Honestly, this is something that I’ve never shared. They said this is over. They said it was over.”
Sharpe says he wanted control of his podcast, not a bigger paycheck. He outlined a simple offer, as reported by Barrett Media. “I just said just give me the pod,” Sharpe said. “I’ll stay on my current salary. If you guys want to add some years to my contract, I’m cool with that.”
Fox said it would consider the request, Sharpe says, but the answer came almost immediately. “Just let me have the podcast. They said let us think about it,” Sharpe recalled. “When I get there, there’s a fax already coming through: my termination.”
Scroll to continue reading
Bayless says he did not realize Sharpe wanted to stay until his final days. Once he learned, he urged executives to continue the show, since both men had roughly a year left on their contracts. “We’d had such a great run that I told them, just let this go,” Bayless said. “It’s cool. We’re cool. We’re fine.” Executives refused, he said. “I got no way in hell are we going forward with this show,” he recalled. “It was devastating to me.”
Bayless believes executives reacted more strongly to their televised clashes than the hosts did. He called them “prisoners of internet overreaction.” He also told Sharpe, “You got the last laugh out of that.”
Sharpe left in June 2023 in what reports called a buyout. EURweb previously reported that growing tension between Sharpe and Bayless allegedly contributed to the split.
FS1 rebuilt “Undisputed” around Bayless and rotating co-hosts, including Keyshawn Johnson, Michael Irvin and Richard Sherman. EURweb reported that “First Take” averaged 554,000 viewers from September through November 2023, versus 120,000 for “Undisputed.” Bayless left FS1 in 2024.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Jasmine Guy Responds to Critics of Her ‘A Different World’ Appearance
We Publish Breaking News 24/7. Don’t Miss Out! Sign up for our Free daily newsletter HERE.
