Shannon Sharpe made headlines over the weekend for an altercation with several Memphis Grizzlies players as well as the father of Ja Morant during a basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer and Savannah State legend apologized on The Interrupted on Monday.
“As you have probably heard or seen Friday night at the Lakers game, I want to apologize for my behavior,” Shannon Sharpe said. “As I’ve preached for the last 6 1/2 years, responsibility and accountability. And I take full responsibility for what transpired.”
“It does not matter what Dillon Brooks said or how many times he said it. Me being the responsible person, me having the platform that I have and having so many people look up to me, I was wrong. I should have lowered the temperature in the arena. Instead, I turned the temperature up, and I let it get out of hand.”
That was a sharp turn from Sharpe’s reaction immediately after the incident when he spoke with ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Shannon Sharpe said. “They do all that talking and jockeying and I ain’t about that jockeying. It started with Dillon Brooks. I said he was too small to guard LeBron. He said, ‘F– me.’ I said, ‘F– you’ back, he started to come at me, and I said, ‘You don’t want these problems.’ And then Ja came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously didn’t want no problems.
“But I wanted anything they had. Don’t let these fools fool you now.”
Shannon Sharpe went on to apologize to the Lakers organization, LeBron James, the fans in attendance, the Grizzlies organization as well as players Dillion Brooks and Ja Morant.
“I’m never going to be too big to say I’m sorry,” Sharpe said.