Shannon Sharpe blasts Ja Morant for claiming weapon was a 'toy gun'
If Shannon Sharpe could sit down and talk with Ja Morant, he’d tell the Grizzlies’ point guard to accept responsibility — and that doesn’t entail trying to claim that the gun in his Instagram Live video was a toy.
After a report from “The Breakfast Club” emerged about the toy gun twist, a claim allegedly coming from Morant’s camp, Sharpe crushed the 23-year-old during an episode of “Undisputed” with Skip Bayless.
The host engaged in a three-minute segment and expressed disappointment for what he believes is the real problem behind Morant’s pair of gun videos and looming NBA suspension: a lack of responsibility.
“Therein lies the problem again, Skip, you see? Here we are again,” Sharpe said. “Ja Morant refuses to accept accountability and responsibility for his actions. Again, it’s somebody else. Somebody from the backseat passed up a toy gun.
“What grown-ass man you know playing with toy guns? And listening to NBA YoungBoy and listening to that kind of gangster rap. With a toy gun.”
Shannon Sharpe didn’t buy Ja Morant’s camp claiming that the gun in the Instagram Live video was a toy gun. Screengrab via Twitter/@shannonsharpeee
Sharpe, a former NFL tight end whose tenure on the FS1 show will end soon following a buyout agreement, also said if the claim from Morant’s camp was accurate, then that should’ve been revealed the day after the video surfaced — and not nearly a month after the fact.
“Again, he will not accept responsibility for what he did,” Sharpe told Bayless. “He will not own up to the accountability that should be bestowed upon him. It was a toy gun now, Skip? Really? Really, Ja’s camp? This is what you all want us to believe? That was a toy gun?”
Morant could face a lengthy suspension from the NBA after a second video surfaced of the 23-year-old flashing a gun while in a car.
Ja Morant appeared to hold a firearm in an Instagram Live video in May 2023. Twitter/@JamesBurnes8
That followed an Instagram Live video in March where Morant appeared to flash a gun while in a Denver-area strip club, which resulted in an eight-game suspension from the league.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week that the league has “uncovered a fair amount of additional information” in its latest investigation into Morant.
He added the league didn’t want to release its findings during the middle of the NBA Finals between the Nuggets and the Heat.
Sharpe said Morant needs to tell Silver that whatever the NBA commissioner decides, he’s “willing to accept because ‘I’m willing to show you that I’ve learned my lesson this time around.'”
Ja Morant was already suspended once by the NBA this season. Getty Images
The “toy gun” claim, though, has frustrated Sharpe.
“Ja’s camp, come on, you all better than this,” Sharpe said about the toy gun claim. “Just accept the responsibility.
“You come out there with a half-hearted apology that seemed like it was written by one of these AI services. Skip, I just can’t.”
Source: New York Post
