Shannon Sharpe is facing backlash after saying that he only attended an HBCU because his grades were bad. Sharpe was responding to a social media user who was calling out Deion Sanders leaving his position as a head football coach at Jackson State University for a head coaching job at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Sharpe told the social media user, “You sound RIDICULOUS.” Another social media user chimed in, “Shannon, why can’t an HBCU be THE PRIZE?! It’s like moving out of a Black neighborhood is always 'progress.' What other people are taught to see getting away from themselves (i.e. their neighborhoods, institutions and companies, etc.) as 'success' besides Blacks?”
Sharpe responded, “Do you still live in the neighborhood you grew up in?” After being asked the question a second time, Sharpe claimed he only went to an HBCU because his grades weren’t up to par. He said, “I went to an HBCU, but only because I was prop 48. It worked out gr8 for me. Had I had the grades coming out of hs. I wouldn’t haven’t chosen an HBCU.”
After being dragged, he said, “From an educational stand HBCU’s are on par with PWl’s, but from a facilities and resources stand point it’s not close. Stop trying to pretend it is. It isn’t.”
He added, “SSU was gr8 for me and when I had a chance to leave I didn’t. How you took an HBCU wasn’t my 1st choice for college as a slight is beyond me. That’s your choice how you read.”
Sharpe attended Savannah State University.