Shannon Sharpe thinks his legal plight bears similarities to the recent firing of former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore.
On the Wednesday (Dec. 10) livestream of Nightcap, Sharpe and retired athletes Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson and Joe Johnson discussed Moore's sudden firing this week.
The former Michigan Wolverines football coach was accused of engaging in an "inappropriate relationship with a staff member," the university stated. The athletic coach was also detained on Wednesday as a suspect in an alleged assault.
On Nightcap, Sharpe emotionally shared that he empathizes with Moore because he was hit with a sexual assault lawsuit earlier this year. While the civil case ended in a settlement, Sharpe's career nearly took a nosedive after he was fired from ESPN.
The former NFL star remains a co-host on Nightcap and has another podcast, Club Shay Shay.
"I think the thing is is that all the situations that you've heard, you never think a situation like this can happen to you, even though you're doing what you've heard about," Sharpe said around the one-hour, 42-minute mark of the episode below.
"'Nah, this going to be different. She ain't like that. It ain't going to happen. It ain't gonna get out. Don't nobody know but her and I.' ... And I can imagine six, seven months ago, I went through something very similar," Sharpe continued. "So I can I know what that storm is like."
Sharpe added that people don't know the circumstances "unless you've been in it."
"That's why when people say, 'This is what I would do.' You don't know what you do until you in it. Until you in that pressure cooker. Until you in the the eye of the storm," he continued. "Everything that you worked your entire life for, you feel like it's crumbling right before your eyes. And the only people that's going to be there, it's going to be a select few. That's the hardest part."
Sharpe also shared his belief that those facing similar accusations are blindsided and don't think they'd "get caught," comparing being accused of assault to nighttime robberies.
"And then the other reports that came out that he was arrested and things that some things escalated," Sharpe added. "Think about Samson and Delilah, David and Bathsheba. ... I don't hate anybody, but there's a few people I really have a strong disliking for. I wouldn't wish what I went through on them."
The podcaster said after he faced the lawsuit, he leaned on his family and close friends, including his Nightcap co-hosts.
"Nobody else was there," Sharpe said. "All the phone calls, the people used to call and 'Hey, how you doing? What's up?' Stopped. ... Besides that, yeah, it was embarrassing, but I think that was the toughest part is that people that you thought would always be in your corner, all of a sudden they weren't there."
In an August episode of Nightcap, Sharpe said that his "pockets [were] light." His accuser sought $50 million in damages.