Matt Barnes has said heβs stopped two people from trying to beat up Skip Bayless over his tweetΒ on the nightΒ Damar HamlinΒ collapsedΒ duringΒ Monday Night Football.
βFirst of all, Skip is a professional in this realm, [and] was highly respected,β Barnes said in a video originally posted to his Instagram.Β βWhen people say, βread the whole tweet,β he said the game was βirrelevant.β He knew he had to put that at the end of the bullshit he was saying hoping we didnβt see through the bullshit, because how he truly felt was his original first sentence.β
Barnes suggested that Bayless did seem more concerned about the postponement of the game, and that his comment was βblatant disrespectβ to Hamlin. βI just feel as of late heβs been very very very disrespectful and out of pocket, and thatβs normal, but heβs been that way to Shannon [Sharpe],β he continued. βI think Skipβs day is coming, and it may not be from a firing standpoint because you know white men in this profession can kinda get away with and do what they want.β
Barnes went on to claim that heβs had to stop two fights in the past over comments Bayless made, but did not specify what the threats of violence were over. βI know personally that Iβve had to diffuse two situations,β he said. βOne with a coach, and one with an NBA player. They wanted to fuck Skip up. β¦Β One was this year, one was last year. β¦Β Luckily cooler heads prevailed, but itβs just gone too far in my opinion. Shannonβs had a lot of love or does have a lot of love for dude, but you can even see Shannonβs fed up. And someoneβs gonna end up hurting Skip.β
In his tweet shared on Monday, Bayless wrote, βNo doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game β but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome β¦ which suddenly seems so irrelevant.β The tweet was widely criticized, despite Bayless stressing in a follow-up that βnothing is more important than that young manβs health.β
When Tuesdayβs episode of FS1βsΒ UndisputedΒ aired, his co-host,Β Sannon Sharpe, was notably absent. Sharpe returned Wednesday, when things got heated between the two.Β
βSkip tweeted something and although I disagreed with the tweet, and hopefully Skip will take it down, but I didnβt want,β Sharpe said before Bayless interrupted.Β
βTimeout, timeout. Iβm not going to take it down because I stand by what I tweeted,βΒ Bayless said.
βI cannot even get through a monologue without you interrupting me,β Sharpe shot back. βI was just going to say, Skip, I didnβt want to yesterday, to get into a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We shouldβve been talking about him and not get into your tweet. Thatβs what I was going to do. But you canβt even let me finish my opening monologue without you interrupting.β
Check out their blowup above.Β