{"id":19214,"date":"2025-05-03T00:05:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T00:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/19214\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T00:05:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T00:05:13","slug":"stephen-a-smith-defends-shannon-sharpe-amid-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/19214\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith Defends Shannon Sharpe Amid Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baltimore Ravens<\/a> have had an offseason mired in controversy, and they haven\u2019t done themselves any favors in containing it. Kicker Justin Tucker is facing allegations from several Baltimore-area massage therapists claiming sexual misconduct, straining the zero-tolerance policy the team once claimed to have, but has decided to postpone until the league\u2019s investigation has concluded.<\/p>\n

In Round 2 of the NFL Draft, the Ravens once again tied themselves to a player with real off-field question marks. Marshall edge rusher Mike Green fell to the end of Round 2 because of his past. He was accused of sexual assault in high school and understood that Virginia had its own zero-tolerance policy. Another accusation emerged, and Green subsequently found himself at Marshall.<\/p>\n

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Nevertheless, Baltimore<\/a> either feels extremely comfortable in the validity of Green\u2019s denials, or it is simply prioritizing football over character.<\/p>\n

Even the Ravens<\/a>\u2019 past has been marred with controversy this offseason. Former Baltimore tight end Shannon Sharpe has been accused of sexual assault, and his ESPN colleague, Stephen A. Smith, was quick to defend him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I was hopeful that it ultimately would not lead to him being off the air, I knew it wasn\u2019t going to go down like that<\/a> because I know Disney,\u201d Smith said on \u201cBigBoyTV,\u201d via Barrett Media. \u201cThe court of public opinion is what the Disney\u2019s of the world and others concerned themselves with. That\u2019s a more immediate issue, and unfortunately, that has worked against him at this particular moment in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

ESPN released a statement shortly after the accusations arose, announcing that it agreed with Sharpe\u2019s decision to step away from television.<\/p>\n

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That isn\u2019t necessarily a presumption of Sharpe\u2019s guilt. But it is reckless to allow someone under such serious scrutiny to star on the network\u2019s popular weekday show, and Sharpe may have been asked to step away if he hadn\u2019t done so voluntarily.<\/p>\n

Smith clearly disagrees with the decision to take Sharpe off the air and claims it is his duty as a friend to stand by Sharpe amid the turmoil.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the brother tells me he\u2019s innocent,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI believe him. I know that he does not trust easy, and that honest conversations that he\u2019s had with me he wouldn\u2019t have with just anybody. I\u2019m going to honor that, and I\u2019m going to make sure that he knows and that everybody knows that no matter how things go down, not to say that he would rely on me, but if he ever chose to, anything that I can do for him as a friend I will do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the wake of both players\u2019 accusations, Tucker and Sharpe have staunchly denied the respective claims.<\/p>\n

Related: Ravens Explain Decision To Keep Tucker<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Ravens Speak Out On Sexual Assault Charges Against Top Draft Pick<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Baltimore Ravens have had an offseason mired in controversy, and they haven\u2019t done themselves any favors in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,7,1084,276,6,5488,169,3250,1871],"class_list":{"0":"post-19214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-justin-tucker","13":"tag-mike-green","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-question-marks","16":"tag-ravens","17":"tag-shannon-sharpe","18":"tag-stephen-a-smith"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114440983425739877","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}