Stephen A. Smith addresses ‘uncomfortable’ Shannon Sharpe sexual assault lawsuit for first time

Stephen A. Smith has broken his silence on the rape allegations against his ESPN colleague Shannon Sharpe. 

On his self-titled podcast released Tuesday, Smith spent nearly 20 minutes discussing the topic, calling it a “sad situation.”

“Shannon Sharpe is somebody I work with a couple of days a week. Shannon Sharpe is somebody I brought to ESPN … We’ve grown close as friends … I certainly root for him,” he said.

Sharpe denied the accusations Monday through his lawyer, Lanny J. Davis and doubled down on his denial in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday.

An uncertain Smith, who has worked with Sharpe on “First Take” since September 2023, said he couldn’t “speak to his innocence or guilt from a knowledgeable place.”

“Even though I got love and respect for Shannon Sharpe, and I’m sincerely hopeful and prayerful that he is completely innocent of the allegations that have been levied against him,” he added,

Smith admitted that he was “a bit torn” on Sharpe’s response, first giving credence to Sharpe’s argument that the accuser’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, who also represented plaintiffs in the Jay-Z, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Deshaun Watson cases, “targets black men.”

But he later questioned how Sharpe has handled the situation since news broke of the lawsuit on Monday morning. 

“On one hand, going on the offensive to defend himself, I completely understand where Shannon Sharpe is coming from,” Smith said. “On the other hand, when his legal team issued out the press release on X yesterday and they spoke about (her), they mentioned her name, and they revealed some of those explicit text messages. That was uncomfortable. And I don’t know if that’s a strategy that will work.”

In multiple press releases, Davis named the accuser and unveiled a series of explicit texts allegedly sent by Sharpe’s accuser, which Davis argues are indicative of a consensual relationship that included “role-playing” and “fantasy.”

Davis said his client was willing to pay the plaintiff “at least $10 million” in a settlement for her silence as the two sides were in the midst of a mediation prior to the lawsuit.

Smith added that he had spoken to Sharpe since the allegations emerged and he “emphatically” denied claims. 

“In my perfect world, [Sharpe] moves on and somehow, some way, we find this all to be false,” Smith said. “But it doesn’t seem like that’s the way things are about to go down, considering how Mr. Buzbee is and how emphatic his client is proclaiming that she is right and she is telling the truth. I don’t know where this is going to go. I can’t speak to anything else.”

Sharpe appeared on “First Take” on Tuesday, but Smith admitted that the Worldwide Leader still has decisions to make on the issue. 

ESPN told The Post it had “no comment” on the situation on Monday.

“I don’t know what’s happened. I know I got love for the brother,” Smith said. “I know that I’m wishing that he’s innocent and all of this stuff goes away and he can continue to thrive with me on ESPN and thrive in his own platforms that he worked so diligently over the years to build. But anything else would be entirely irresponsible for me to speak on and I can’t do that. Yes I own this, this is my platform. But I also have a day job and I also understand what lawyers, what HR, and all those other things entail.

“I have no idea what direction ESPN will go in when it comes to this matter,” Smith said. “All I do know is it won’t be me making the decision. It will be others upstairs. In the end, all of us have someone to answer to. No matter how maverick we try to be.”