Skip Bayless confirms he is leaving FOX, plans to pursue other opportunities
“Undisputed” co-host Skip Bayless confirmed Friday he is leaving FOX and FS1 after an eight-year run with the company.
Friday’s “Undisputed” was the final appearance for Bayless on the network.
“Today was my last show on Undisputed,” Bayless wrote on X. “I’m leaving FS1. I’ve been planning to pursue other opportunities for several months. I had a great 8-year run with a lot of great people at FOX, but now I’m excited for what’s coming up. Stay tuned.”
Bayless, 72, joined FOX in the summer of 2016, after being at ESPN for over a decade. He notably debated Stephen A. Smith on “First Take,” one of the network’s highest-rated shows. After joining FOX, he debuted “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” alongside Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe. “Undisputed” has gone head-to-head with “First Take” over the last eight years, but hit a roadblock last year.
Sharpe left FOX after last year’s NBA Finals and joined ESPN soon thereafter, making appearances on “First Take.” Sharpe and Bayless had several contentious debates on-air, Sharpe notably no showing an episode of “Undisputed” after Bayless sent out a controversial tweet in the aftermath of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffering a cardiac arrest during Week 17 of the 2022 NFL season.
Skip Bayless teases next opportunity following FOX exit
“Undisputed” went dark for a couple months after Sharpe’s departure before relaunching in August with Bayless, Richard Sherman and Michael Irvin serving as co-hosts. Keyshawn Johnson and Paul Pierce have since been added to the rotation.
Marcellus Wiley, a former on-air FS1 talent, was the first to report that Friday would be Bayless’s swan song.
“I was given information that tomorrow [Friday] will be Skip Bayless’s last day on FS1,” Wiley said Thursday on his podcast. “What’s interesting about this departure is, other than the news, the headlines, how anti-climactic it is in terms of nothing publicly has been said by Skip Bayless.
“Nothing making headlines. And frankly, internally, a lot of people in the building are saying, ‘we’re not talking about it either.’ Maybe that’s by design, or maybe that’s by residue.”