Shannon Sharpe Absent From ‘Undisputed,’ Skip Bayless Apologizes To Viewers

Tuesday’s (Jan. 3) episode of FS1’s Undisputed felt very different. Shannon Sharpe was absent and Skip Bayless seemingly had a lot to answer for after an ill-timed tweet following Damar Hamlin’s horrific injury during the Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.

“I apologize for what we’re going to do today,” the 71-year-old said in a clip shared by ClutchPoints via Twitter. It is worth noting that he apologized for any offense that viewers may feel as he attempted to conduct the show as normal, despite the entire sports community being shaken up by the Bills’ safety requiring AED, CPR, and being rushed to the hospital after being hit in the chest. The former First Take host admitted that he was also distraught.

“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. Maybe I’ll fail, maybe we will fail, but we’re going to try. We wrestled through most of the night whether to even do a show today because we felt like, in our minds, we almost can’t win with this because the last thing we want to do is come off as insensitive to what this young man is going through in a life or death situation.”

He offered fans the opportunity to tweet the show about their feelings on the situation to be shared live before announcing his NFL Hall Of Fame co-host was not present, but he looked forward to seeing him the following day. Despite his absence, the three-time Super Bowl champion offered words of encouragement to Damar Hamlin and his family on Monday evening via Twitter.

“Please keep Demar Hamlin and his family in your thoughts and prayers,” the Club Shay Shay host said. “NFL doesn’t have a manual on how to proceed after an incident like this.” Skip, on the other hand, caught backlash for one of his tweets questioning how the NFL would go about rescheduling the game, as it had an impact on playoff seeding.

“No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game – but how?” Bayless questioned in a tweet. “This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome … which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”

Story continues

Kendrick Perkins, Terrell Owens, and several other public figures called him out for the tweet, though the analyst did offer prayers and thoughts to Hamlin in tweets prior.

Bayless attempted to clarify his point in a follow-up tweet, though the damage was already done. “Nothing is more important than that young man’s health,” he wrote. “That was the point of my last tweet. I’m sorry if that was misunderstood but his health is all that matters. Again, everything else is irrelevant. I prayed for him & will continue to.”

Damar Hamlin fell unconscious after tackling Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. It was later reported that he suffered cardiac arrest, and he was rushed to a nearby hospital. His family shared a statement on Tuesday (Jan. 3) afternoon thanking everyone for the love and support being shown to the Bills’ safety. They stated they will share updates as soon as they have them.

Click here to read the full article.