FS1’s Undisputed is officially breaking up with the reported departure of Shannon Sharpe following the conclusion of the NBA Finals, according to Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post.
The move comes after visible acrimony following a tweet commentator Skip Bayless refused to delete when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. Yet some in the business saw this breakup coming months before this week’s news broke. One of them was former FOX Sports commentator Marcellus Wiley. He discussed the matter earlier this year on his YouTube page, speculating that Bayless was beginning to notice the ascending stardom of Sharpe and, as a result, sought to keep him in his place.
“This is a flex because he thinks that Shannon is trying to flex because Shannon is just growing in popularity,” Wiley said. “Maybe he has post-traumatic stress because didn’t this happen with Stephen A. and him? A lot of people told me that. I don’t remember the [details] of that, but Stephen A. kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and it started to go a different way. Maybe he’s reliving that. I don’t know.”
Bayless worked with Stephen A. Smith on First Take until mid-2016, and the show appointed Max Kellerman to take his place. Wiley reflected on that time and thought about the dynamic between Bayless and Smith, and how it presumably changed.
“Everyone knows if you go to war with Skip on the show, he’s going to come for your neck,” Wiley said. “Everybody knows [when] somebody says, ‘Cut,’ or, ‘Go to break – commercial,’ Skip’s the nicest dude in the world.”
Wiley is puzzled at why the Undisputed stars chose not to support one another. There have undoubtedly been moments of tension and anguish with the duo, but having it spiral to a point of no return is an outcome Wiley says he would not have let happen.
“All I know is if somebody is trying to cancel my partner, I’m there for my partner,” Wiley said. “But I also know my partner can’t be trying to flex on me because of my partnership. Because if we’re really teammates, the better ‘me’ is the better ‘we,’ and that’s what I don’t get about their relationship from afar.”
