Shannon Sharpe’s Interview With Paparazzi Was Cut Short by Selena Gomez

Shannon Sharpe was recently approached by paparazzi outside of trendy Italian eatery Giorgio Baldi, but the interview was cut short when Selena Gomez stole his spotlight.

A paparazzi found Sharpe while he was waiting at the Santa Monica institution’s valet station when a cameraman began showering him with compliments for his new co-hosting gig on ESPN’s First Take. As Sharpe began to answer a question about Team USA's showing at the FIBA World Cup, Gomez and her entourage emerged to a flurry of flashbulbs.

“Hold on one second, Shannon,” the pap said as he began to follow Gomez to her waiting vehicle. Flanked by staff and security, Gomez was looking down as the assembled press urged her to look into their cameras. In seconds, the Only Murders in the Building actor was gone, and the cameraman turned his attention back to Sharpe.

“Apologize about that Shannon,” the sheepish paparazzi tells him.

“Nah bro, you good. That’s what you do,” the former Undisputed host returned, clearly stung but hiding it well. Sharpe rebounds by answering another question, but soon his car arrives and he heads off.

Before Sharpe left, he was asked about Deion Sanders’ work coaching the University of Colorado Buffaloes, and the death threats leveled at Rams player Henry Blackburn, who benched Buffaloes star Travis Hunter for several weeks with an illegal hit. “Coach Prime doing it,” Sharpe said, referring to Sanders by his nickname. Of Blackburn, he felt: “The kid didn’t deserve that. It was an illegal hit, we all know that. But he didn’t deserve death threats.”