Amidst relentless discourse among netizens on the deserved winner between Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson, Shannon Sharpe joined the fray, obliterating a Jamaican troll who accused him of having a CTE for hyping up Lyles.
Advertisement
USA’s Noah Lyles made history yesterday by winning the gold medal in the closest-ever men’s 100m final in modern history. Lyles beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by five-thousandths of a second.
The victory, however, was controversial, as Thompson was awarded silver despite having his foot crossing the finish line first. According to the official rules, the head and the torso of the athlete have to cross the line first.
Lyles did so by leaning to the finishing line, ultimately clinching the gold. This seems to have irked the majority of Jamaican fans, resulting in a relentless back and forth between them and their American counterparts. And this is where the former NFL tight end comes in.
Sharpe, from day one, had been backing Noah, and once the victory was his, the analyst urged Jamaicans to stop the trash talk and accept that Thompson got “smoked” by Lyles. Using a word like “smoked” when the Lyles barely beat the Jamaican didn’t go down well with the latter’s countrymen.
Hence, when a few netizens brought this up to Sharpe, he further hyped up Lyles and argued that no matter who was in front of Lyles, they would always get tracked down by the American track runner.
This is when a Jamaican fan named Nicketa Nicola took a jab at Shannon, downplaying his emphasis on a head start and playfully asking if CTE was causing him to talk like that.
The NFL legend wasn’t about to let that slide and fired back with a brutal clapback, saying:
“How much is a Uber ride from your forehead 2 your hairline? You should’ve sat this 1 out.”
Unc apparently was in no mood to play around, as clearly visible in the response. This interaction immediately went viral, with the tweet garnering 7.9 million views. Fans were also quite entertained by Sharpe’s savage reply and took to “X” to share their two cents.
“Unc go easy on them”: netizens ask Sharpe to take a chill pill
As expected, the initial reaction among netizens was one of shock and surprise. Most didn’t anticipate Sharpe coming through with such a brutal response, and they urged the analyst to calm down.
Damn unc go easy on ehm pic.twitter.com/J7QAfZer6I
— Mamba 〽️ (@imbranzo) August 4, 2024
Oh my lord why you cook her like that pic.twitter.com/EQen5OhR9d
— (@Siggyv) August 4, 2024
A few netizens, meanwhile, jokingly reminded Shannon, a devout Christian, that he committed murder [with words] on the Lord’s Day [Sunday].
On the Lord’s Day Shannon?
— Cameron Magruder (@ScooterMagruder) August 4, 2024
While the majority laughed around, several of them complained that the analyst was wrong to make fun of the Jamaican for her physical appearance. But a few soon pointed out the irony of this stance by noting that the Jamaican first hit the low blow by joking about CTE.
I normally wouldn’t laugh at something mocking physical appearances. People come for me all the time. But Shannon clears here. Throw CTE in there like that and she opened the door. Gloves off.
— Jeana (@jeana_1983) August 4, 2024
That said, this isn’t the first time an athlete has lost a medal by failing to lean in at the finish line. Some might argue that leaning in should be part of a track runner’s most basic checklist. As the saying goes, winners are winners, and those who follow should learn from their mistakes.