Pat McAfee had nothing but praise for fellow ESPN personality Shannon Sharpe after he suffered an explicit Instagram live gaffe Wednesday.
Sharpe, 56, accidentally streamed live audio of himself engaging in sexual activity with an unknown woman to his 3.2 million followers on the social media platform.
The former NFL tight end later came clean on an emergency episode of his podcast, ‘Nightcap’, admitting that his account had not been hacked and that it was himself having sex during the live video.
McAfee commended the former tight end for his handling of the situation after making a joke about Sharpe while discussing Bills quarterback Josh Allen on his daily ESPN show Thursday.
‘Shout out to Unc by the way,’ McAfee began on Thursday’s episode of the Pat McAfee Show.
‘You handled it perfectly on Nightcap. We’re all very thankful you did that instead of a like ‘I was hacked’ Impossible. We all knew it was impossible as it was happening. But also, didn’t see anything. Heard a lot. It was a podcast and it might be voice actors we don’t know.’
‘I hope he’s not embarrassed by the situation – doesn’t sound like he is. He should feel pretty good coming out of the entirety of that,’ continued McAfee. ‘I don’t think anyone has ever thought of an audio-only sex tape. Seems like it’s pretty good.’
McAfee went to discuss potential ‘outs’ or excuses Sharpe could have used but again the ESPN host hailed the Hall of Famer for owning up to the video.
The video went live on Instagram on Wednesday afternoon, and while no faces could ever be seen, a woman could be heard moaning and appeared to say the name Shannon.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer initially claimed that his account had been hacked and that his team was working ‘vigorously’ to work it out. However, he later confessed on ‘Nightcap’ that the accidental video was a result of his lack of technological knowledge.
‘I threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity,’ Sharpe said. ‘I did not know IG live. I’ve never turned IG live on so I don’t know how it works and all of sudden my other phone started going off.’
He explained that a member of his team eventually managed to end the live video, while his marketing partner was able to alert him of the situation. Johnson said he had ’73 missed calls’ with people trying to get in contact with him over the sex live stream, which had thousands of users tuning in.
‘Obviously I am embarrassed. Someone that is extremely, extremely private and to have one of your most intimate details – the audio – heard for the entire world to hear, I’m embarrassed for a number of reasons,’ Sharpe said.
‘There are a lot of people that count on Shannon to be professional at all times and I always try to be professional at all times, even when I’m behind closed doors. … I’m very disappointed in myself, not for the act. I think there are millions and billions of people of consenting age that engage in activities, but for the audio to be heard I’m disappointed in myself. I let a lot of people down.’
Sharpe said for every time he has intimate moments in the future, he will leave his phone in the car.
The former Denver Bronco also mentioned an interest in going back to using a flip phone.
