Shannon Sharpe Admits to Instagram Live Sex Broadcast

By Justin Curto, who covers music, TV, and celebrity for Vulture

Isn’t honesty so refreshing from a celebrity? Like when you’re having a child out of your marriage and you just admit it on Instagram. Shannon Sharpe, the NFL Hall of Famer who now spends his days yelling on ESPN and podcasting, accidentally streamed a minute-and-a-half video of a woman moaning (but, thankfully, nothing visual) on his Instagram Live on September 11. At first, he said he was hacked. But on his show Nightcap that night, Sharpe admitted it was a mistake and he was “disappointed” in himself. “Guys, this was not staged,” Sharpe said. “I came in, I threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity. I did not know IG Live, I’ve never been on IG Live, I’ve never turned IG Live on, so I don’t know how it works. And so, all of a sudden, my other phone is going off.” Don’t you hate when that happens?

It was Sharpe’s “longtime marketing guy” who logged into his account, stopped the video, and posted the statement about being hacked. But Sharpe said he was honest to his family, friends, agents, and ESPN, and wanted to tell his fans too. “I said, ‘I just got to tell them the truth,’” he said. “My phone wasn’t hacked. It wasn’t a prank. It was me being a healthy, active male.” And while he’s “extremely embarrassed” and “very disappointed” about the whole thing, there is a bright side here. Comedians and trolls have been calling Sharpe gay since his viral interview with Katt Williams earlier this year, but now he’s beating the allegations. He even said lifetime Club Shay Shay member Williams called him with some news after the livestream: “You ain’t gay today!”