New year, new Shannon Sharpe? Or at least, that question seems to be top of mind after he recently debuted a new look on social media. However, for more than a handful of Black women, they’re split between admiration for his aesthetic and eyerolls at his past antics. Don’t worry, we’ll explain.
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As we’ve told you plenty of times before, Sharpe’s professional and personal reputation took a severe hit in 2025. While he’s still maintained relevance thanks to the success of highly popular “Club Shay Shay” and “Nightcap” podcasts (the latter of which he cohosts with fellow NFL player Chad Ochocinco), that $50 million sexual assault lawsuit lobbed against him by an OnlyFans model that led to him losing his job at ESPN and eventually settled in over left a sour taste in many people’s mouths.
Just one week ago, he was also getting dragged for some comments he made about his desire for “curly haired, light skinned women.”
But now it seems like all is forgiven thanks to a new, viral video Sharpe recently posted on social media. Popping out for the New York premiere of the new Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Teyana Taylor-led Netflix film, “The Rip,” Sharpe stepped in the spot wearing a clean navy suit, white shirt and tan leather shoes. But it wasn’t his clothes that caught people by surprise—it was the very apparent salt and pepper beard he was rocking.
Just take a look for yourself below.
And just to add a little bit more swag and sauce to his new look, Sharpe later posted a video of himself throwing fake money at the premiere all while looking like one of those super cool, old school pimps who don’t have time for jive turkeys or anything that doesn’t bring him dollars nor make cents.
Naturally, with him showing up with this new, arguably debonair look, some women were swift to put their issues with Sharpe to the side so they could marvel at his bearded up masculine presence.
“Shannon Sharpe is looking good with that salt and pepper,” wrote one person on TikTok.
“That beard is GIVING,” said another.
“Keep the beard Shannon,” one other user wrote.
Added another, “Love the facial hair #grownmane.”
“It seems like he has fully accepted his sugar daddy role, congrats to the snow bunnies,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
However, if you took a quick stroll on over to Instagram, some Black women weren’t ready to hop aboard the new Sharpe train.
“Calm down Black Queens , he don’t want us” said one user on Instagram.
“We ain’t forget that he likes Salt over Pepper,” likely referencing the race of the OnlyFans model he previously got caught up with who was white-looking (but was reportedly Hispanic).
One other user poked fun at the aforementioned pricey lawsuit, commenting “That’s exactly how he threw away all that money to little miss only fans.”
“You would think he’d be tired of throwing money away,” said another.
Added one other user, “He don’t like black girls y’all relax.”
Straight From 
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