On Monday Night Football last week, the sports world was turned upside down with the terrifying on the field cardiac arrest suffered by Bills safety Damar Hamlin against the Bengals. It was truly an unprecedented event, with medics having to connect Hamlin to a breathing tube to save his life. The NFL ultimately suspended the game and then later canceled it. Thankfully, Hamlin has made tremendous progress in the hospital, gaining responsiveness again in his arms and legs and is breathing by himself. Groups of different races and viewpoints came together to pray for Hamlin’s recovery, and it was a wonderful thing to see.
Unfortunately, things like this are never without controversy sadly, and Skip Bayless was the head of this with a controversial and poorly worded tweet.
Analysts and fans all came together to ridicule Skip’s poorly timed tweet, and Skip offered a half apology saying that his tweet was taken out of context and that Hamlin’s health was most important, but refused to take down the tweet because he stood by his comments.
Skip is no stranger to controversy, his whole career has been based on stirring the pot and making hot takes that are doubtful he even believes them. But the biggest development is that his own coworkers are taking issue with Skip’s comments and blasting him on air. Shannon Sharpe, his partner in crime on Undisputed did not show up to work the next day, and left Skip to offer explanations solo for a day.
He then showed up the next day and attempted to explain his absence. He stated that as a player himself, Hamlin’s injury personally affected him, and that he thought Skip’s tweet was in poor taste and should be deleted. However, Skip rudely interrupted him and said that he will not be taking the tweet down and claimed that nobody at Fox had an issue with his statements. This exploded into a full blown argument where it was clear there was real tension between the two. The link to the full video is here.
After this incident and another recent one where Skip made a personal dig at Shannon discrediting his hall of fame career, it is looking like the end is near for these two. I’d personally be shocked if Shannon renews his contract when it is up, and I am not sure that anyone will work with Skip again after this. His ESPN coworkers have been reported to have issues with him taking things too personally, he had a falling out with Stephen A Smith, and his Fox coworkers have a bone to pick with what he said. I think this is the beginning of the end for Skip, and I think him holding the spotlight on national television will not be going on much longer.
What are your thoughts on this controversy? Let me know in the comments.