Shannon Sharpe Admits to Lying About Phone Hack After Sex Act Goes Live on Instagram

NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe has admitted that a moment of intimacy between an unidentified man and woman that briefly graced his Instagram page on Wednesday was actually him and that the live clip was posted accidentally — not the result of him being hacked, as he’s previously stated. 

On Wednesday, Sharpe’s 3.2 million followers may have been perplexed or shocked to hear the sound of a moaning woman in an Instagram Live session that appeared on the former tight end’s page. Sharpe was not seen in the quickly deleted livestream video and was quick to claim that the incident was due to hackers going after the platform..

“Beware my @shannonsharpe84 Instagram was hacked this morning, my team and I are working vigorously to figure this out — UNC,” Sharpe said but deleted the post moments after posting it. 

Sharpe decided to come clean and admit that the post was an accident while speaking on his Nightcap podcast on Wednesday. He’s accidentally gone live after tossing his phone onto the bed before engaging in the private encounter that, he says, unfortunately, went public. 

“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 on the emergency episode of Nightcap.

“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,” he added.

Explaining the incident and how he learned of it, Sharpe chalked it all up to not being tech-savvy and said he’d never heard of Instagram Live. 

“I threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity. 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 said. “My phone wasn’t hacked. It wasn’t a prank, it was me being a healthy, active male.”

Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson then reminded Sharpe how the former Denver Broncos tight end had accidentally “butt dialed” him three times — a testament to the host’s lack of awareness around technology. But that didn’t stop him from chastising him.

“I’m baffled. I never thought I’d see the day where you, Unc, would pull something so out of character,” Johnson said. “A little unprofessional. I’m not mad, I’m thoroughly disappointed because I hold you to a higher standard. The type of standard you just tried to chastise me for just Saturday. So this has really sent me into a complete shock.”

Soon the mood lightened, with Sharpe jokingly mentioning a male enhancement product that sponsors the show.