Shannon Sharpe, over the years, has been on the receiving end of multiple gay jokes by comedians and internet personalities. Things took an extreme turn earlier this month when Sharpe went viral for walking a bit weirdly in a green co-ord set in front of Total Wine. Netizens didn’t show mercy on the NFL Hall of Famer and accentuated the gay jokes about him. However, one could very well argue that Sharpe has been very graciously handling these trolls.
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Even when comedian Eddie Griffin called Shannon ‘gay’ during one of his recent standups, Unc emphasized that he would never let these types of insults get to him, as per HNHN. Sharpe refrains from clapping back for a reason because when he does, people start accusing him of being weak.
In the latest episode of Nightcap, Sharpe pointed out this hypocrisy to his co-host Chad Johnson and revealed his disappointment with it. Sharpe ranted that others can go as far as questioning his sexuality, but if he says something, people don’t take it as a joke. He said,
“Here’s the thing I don’t understand. When it comes to me, Shannon take a joke; When they question your sexuality, when they do this, Shannon it’s just a joke right? But hey, when Shannon Sharp says something, ‘Oh he mean it!’ It’s set in stone right? You notice the difference on joke?”
Ocho agreed with Sharp, however, he opined that a part of it is also because of people not seeing Sharpe in an open and casual environment. Johnson argued that people’s perception of Shannon has been influenced by his intellectual analysis and suited outfits. Hence, some of his fans must have also been surprised seeing Sharpe in an olive green co-ord set.
“The goal posts move depending on who the individual is you know,” Sharpe said. “Some people are okay, some people are not as they’re not used to seeing you in this space. You are normally suited and booted, you know studious. They haven’t seen an open and authentic organic Shannon Sharpe. So it’s shocking to a lot of people now that they get to see you in this space.”
Notably, one of the main reasons for trolling Sharpe for the Total Wine incident was the way he was seen walking. Unfortunately, the trolls likened Sharpe’s walk to a wrongly stereotyped walking style associated with LGBT community members. What people, however, ignore is that Sharpe walks the way he does due to multiple hip replacements and knee surgeries. All said and done, the real winner was Sharpe, as his viral moment earned him a lot of money.
Shannon Sharpe Earned More Money Through the Katt Williams Interview Than His Annual NFL Salary
The thing about publicity is that it gets eyeballs no matter what the connotations are. Positive or Negative PR at the end of the day will get you PR. A prime example of this has been seen with Shannon Sharpe recently. Two months ago, Sharpe, in his Club Shay Shay podcast, invited comedian Katt Williams for an almost 3-hour long podcast. Williams made some controversial statements about fellow comedians Cedric the Entertainer and Kevin Hart, while also exposing a few industry secrets.
These intricating topics of discussion helped the video amass a whopping 62 million views in just 2 months. Speaking to Ocho about this, Shannon revealed that he “made more money on Katt Williams alone” than in any year that he played in the NFL, as per Yahoo Entertainment. When quipped how much, Sharpe asked Chad and his viewers to triple whatever sum they thought the Hall of Famer made.
“You know we talked about this Ocho, people asking ‘how much money did he make doing the Katt Williams interview?’ Well Ocho, I just got the check, so whatever you think I made, 3X it. So if you think I made $500,000 3X it. If you think I made a million, 3X it if you think I made $2 Million, 3X it,” Sharpe said, as per Complex.
A similar phenomenon happened with Unc after the viral Total Wine video. While his haters had fun trolling him, Sharpe, going viral, helped the wine shop sell 2000 more cases of his cognac Le Portier. As the saying goes — You keep hating, We keep winning!
