It’s the end of an era. After nearly seven years of debating sports together, Shannon Sharpe officially said goodbye to Skip Bayless, Undisputed and Fox Sports on Tuesday morning.
Two weeks after it was reported that Fox Sports reached a buyout agreement with Sharpe, the Pro Football Hall of Famer said goodbye to Undisputed and their audience. Although his departure was widely reported, Sharpe and Bayless waited until the show’s final segment on Tuesday to address it.
Sharpe began his tearful sign off by thanking Fox, former network executive Jamie Horowitz and everyone who works in the studio. But he saved Skip Bayless for last.
Shannon tears up as he thanks Skip pic.twitter.com/Xja5ld7XqL
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 13, 2023
“Skip Bayless, you fought for me, bro. I’m here because of you. You allowed me to share the stage with you. You allowed me to share the platform. I’m gonna cry in the car, but I’m not gonna cry now,” Sharpe said as he began to cry. “The opportunity that you gave me to become what I became, I’m forever indebted to you, I’ll never forget what you did for me. You helped me grow, more than you’ll ever know.”
But it wouldn’t be a true Undisputed segment without Bayless interrupting Sharpe. And as Sharpe dried the tears from his eyes, he had to stop Bayless from jumping his commentary one last time.
“One more thing,” Sharpe said. “All I ask, is when you lay your head on that pillow at night, know I gave you everything I had. I gave you everything I had.”
Bayless wholly agreed with Sharpe’s “I gave you everything I had” assessment of his run as a debate partner. And as much as Bayless gets ribbed for being an egotistical contrarian, his thank you to Shannon Sharpe sounded genuine.
“You were a worthy adversary.” Skip Bayless pic.twitter.com/h2ulQFwVpa
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 13, 2023
“I want to thank you for dedicating yourself to this job,” Bayless said. “It is a veracious beast of a show, day after day after day. You dedicated yourself to this job just the way you dedicated yourself to professional football as a Hall of Famer…I want to thank you for competing as hard as you competed with me because the greatest compliment I could give you is you were a worthy adversary.”
The marriage between Sharpe and Bayless ends after a tumultuous few months where the duo engaged in a several on-air blowups. Most infamous was their bout after Sharpe returned from no-showing in the wake of Bayless’s untimely tweet about Damar Hamlin.
Their working relationship appeared fractured after those tense on-air moments, although Sharpe attempted to quiet that narrative during Super Bowl week, claiming he and Bayless addressed their issues off-air. Ultimately, the marriage fell just short of their seventh anniversary. Bayless will now attempt to fill Sharpe’s chair, while the Pro Football Hall of Famer will undoubtedly embark on a new media venture.
“You’ll see me again somewhere, I just don’t know where,” Sharpe said as he closed out his final show. “Thank you so much for your support, love you guys.”
