Shannon Sharpe's live video goes viral; NFL legend says his Instagram page was hacked

Shannon Sharpe's Instagram Live post went viral for all the wrong reasons.

The NFL Hall of Famer's Instagram page, @shannonsharpe84, went live, and his followers could hear obvious sex noises in the background. No one was visible in the video, including Sharpe, but many who happened upon the live stream noticed the non-workplace-appropriate content.

On Wednesday, Sharpe made a statement via Instagram's story feature claiming to have been hacked – but later retracted that statement in a podcast episode and admitted that he himself appeared in the video.

“Be careful, my Instagram account @shannonsharpe84 was hacked this morning. My team and I are working hard to figure this out,” the Instagram story post with its Unc signature before retracting his statement.

In the “Nightcap” episode, which he co-hosts with Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, Sharpe said he was embarrassed by the incident.

“I threw my phone on the bed,” Sharpe said, noting that at the time he had no idea he was doing a live stream on Instagram.

Sharpe said he was unaware of the incident until someone on his marketing team alerted him that it was live and sex noises could be heard.

“My heart sank,” Sharpe said on the Nightcap podcast. “It sank pretty low… After that, I called my agent, the agency. I called ESPN… I just had to tell them the truth. My phone wasn't hacked.”

Although the live video has since been removed, the NFSW post hardly went unnoticed on social media, as the “Club Shay Shay” host has more than 3 million followers on Instagram and more than 2 million followers on X. Fellow NFL player Terrell Owens was one of the social media users who poked fun at Sharpe.

“I guarantee you ESPN [human resource] is BUSY RIGHT NOW!” Owens wrote on X, among other things.

Others also made fun of the allegedly hacked post on social media:

Sharpe has made a name for himself as one of the most well-known sports analysts. His podcast, Club Shay Shay, has over 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube and the NFL legend has previously appeared on ESPN, FOX Sports and CBS Sports.

As a player, Sharpe was named a Pro Bowler eight times, an All-Pro four times, and won three Super Bowl championship rings (twice with the Denver Broncos and once with the Baltimore Ravens) before being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.