Undisputed co-host Skip Bayless apologized to viewers on Tuesday’s (Jan. 3) episode, with an absent co-host Shannon Sharpe, for his tweet following the horrific injury of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during the Monday Night Football game on January 2nd between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. The 71-year-old famed journalist/correspondent was met with huge backlash on Monday night after tweeting to his 3.2 million followers on Twitter: “No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game – but how? This last in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome … which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”
MORE: Social Media Calls For Skip Bayless’s Firing After Insensitive Damar Hamlin Tweet
Bayless began Tuesday’s episode with an apologetic opening monologue, in which he said, “I apologize for what we’re going to do today. I’m not sure I’m capable of doing this show today but, after barely sleeping on it, I decided to give it a try. Maybe I’ll fail, maybe we will fail, but we’re going to try. We wrestled through most of the night whether to even do a show today because we felt like, in our minds, we almost can’t win with this because the last thing we want to do is come off as insensitive to what this young man is going through in a life or death situation.”
An outraged social media called for Skip Bayless’s firing by Fox Sports 1 on Monday evening, with several retired NFL football stars like 6-time Pro Bowl wide-receiver Terrell Owens calling him “dead wrong” and hoping he loses his job. The network made no comment on Skip Bayless or the Damar Hamlin situation at press time.
MORE: Russell Westbrook Claps Back At Skip Bayless For Calling Him “Westbrick”
In the midst of the backlash on Monday, Bayless followed up his original tweet with a concerning tweet about Hamlin’s health and the ultimate importance of health for the players over the game.
“Nothing is more important than that young man’s health,” he wrote. “That was the point of my last tweet. I’m sorry if that was misunderstood but his health is all that matters. Again, everything else is irrelevant. I prayed for him & will continue to.”
Although absent from Undisputed on Tuesday, Shannon Sharpe shared his prayers with fans, Hamlin and his family on Monday evening. “Please keep Demar Hamlin and his family in your thoughts and prayers,” wrote The three-time Super Bowl champion. “NFL doesn’t have a manual on how to proceed after an incident like this.”
Amid Damar Hamlin’s injury, the NFL has announced that the game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals will not resume this week.
More updates on this story as they become available.
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