US sports commentator Skip Bayless has refused to delete his "inconsiderate" Damar Hamlin tweet during an on-air row with his co-host Shannon Sharpe.
Buffalo Bills safety Hamlin suffered a distressing medical emergency during Monday night's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Following what appeared to be a routine tackle against Tee Higgins, 24-year-old Hamlin stumbled and fell flat on his back, suffering a cardiac arrest.
Ambulances arrived on the field within five minutes, where CPR was administered. Throughout the distressing ordeal, players and coaches on both teams knelt around Hamlin as medics attended to him, praying for his safety. He is currently in intensive care, however, his ventilator has reportedly been reduced from 100% to 50%, as previously reported.
A recent update from the Bills also states that Hamlin has shown "remarkable improvement over the past 24 hours".
Bayless is the co-host of the Fox 1 Sports show Undisputed, and on last night's show, he was called out by Sharpe for a tweet he posted following Hamlin's shock collapse on Monday night.
"No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome ... which suddenly seems so irrelevant," he had written.
Sharpe then opened the show by blasting Bayless for the tweet, saying that the terrifying incident "struck [him] a little different," per News.com.au. Sharpe then asked Bayless to take down the tweet, which he refused to do.
You can watch the explosive disagreement in the tweet below:"There has been a lot of speculation of why I wasn't on-air yesterday, and I won't get into speculation or conjecture and innuendo, but I will say this: In watching that game on Monday night, what happened to Damar Hamlin struck me a little different." Sharpe had said.
"As a brotherhood in the NFL, when injuries happen, and we know injuries are a part of the game … but I've never seen anybody have to be revived and fight for their life on the field [[...] Skip tweeted something and although I disagree with the tweet, and hopefully Skip will take it down," he added.
Bayless then interrupted Sharpe, saying: "I'm not going to take that down," and that he stands by what he tweeted.
"I cannot even get through a monologue without you interrupting me … I didn't want yesterday to get into a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We should've been talking about him and not getting into your tweet. That was what I wasn't going to do, but you can't even let me finish my open monologue," Sharpe replied.
According to Bayless, "no one had an issue" with his tweet. Though, many people did, including this woman who called Bayless out for being "insensitive," writing: "This was a very insensitive tweet when a young man's life should be the primary concern, not this game."
Regardless, Bayless eventually apologized for his tweet the same evening, writing: "Nothing is more important than that young man's health. That was the point of my last tweet. I'm sorry if that was misunderstood but his health is all that matters. Again, everything else is irrelevant. I prayed for him & will continue to."
