ATLANTA — Former NFL star and ESPN personality Shannon Sharpe has come clean about an Instagram Live he accidentally sent out earlier this week.
Sharpe, who was born and raised in Glenville, Georgia, and played college football at Savannah State, accidentally shared a livestream of himself engaging in an apparent sex act on his Instagram account Wednesday. The audio file reached some 3.2 million followers, according to The New York Post.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer initially said in a post on X that his Instagram account was hacked. But he later deleted the X post and admitted on an episode of his YouTube show and podcast, "Nightcap," that the hacking story wasn't true.
Sharpe said the audio was accidentally streamed due to his lack of expertise with technology.
“I threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity,” Sharpe said on the show. “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.”
A member of Sharpe's marketing team eventually got in touch with him to inform him that he was livestreaming a sex act to millions of Instagram followers, and someone else eventually ended the livestream, Sharpe said on his show.
The NFL legend expressed his embarrassment and said he "let a lot of people down."
“Obviously I am embarrassed," Sharpe said. "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.
“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.”
