Shannon Sharpe was not impressed with Ja Morant’s latest apology.
The NFL Hall of Famer mocked the embattled Grizzlies star on Wednesday’s episode of “Undisputed,” alleging that Morant’s recent comments that addressed a video of him holding a gun from Saturday were the results of the artificial intelligence program, ChatGPT.
“Skip, that’s not how Ja [talks],” Sharpe told his co-host, Skip Bayless. “I don’t know if you know about ChatGPT … they’ve been explaining it to me, you can say, ‘Write me a love letter to [your wife] Ernestine …’
Bayless interjected that he couldn’t pass off an AI piece of writing as his own because he has a distinct style.
“Skip, [the apology] is AI generated,” Sharpe continued. “In order for an apology — it needs to be sincere and it needs to be in your words. Some of the wording needs to be in some things that you would say. It can’t be all by a PR team or people are gonna say that’s disingenuous.”
The 23-year-old Morant appeared to brandish a firearm in an Instagram Live video this past weekend.
The Grizzlies swiftly suspended him from team activities — less than three months after he was seen holding a gun in a separate social media video and was subsequently suspended for eight games in March.
Morant released an apology on Tuesday night.
“I know I’ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me,” the statement said, via ESPN. “This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I’m committed to continuing to work on myself.”
As Morant’s words circulated online, one popular meme intimated that the athlete used ChatGPT to craft the statement.
It is far likelier that Morant used a professional PR team than AI, but the meme did raise eyebrows about the apology seeming robotic.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who previously spoke with Morant following the incident from earlier this year, told ESPN on Tuesday he “was shocked” upon seeing the most recent video.
“We’re in the process of investigating it and we’ll figure out exactly what happened as best as we can,” Silver said. “The video’s a bit grainy and all that, but I’m assuming the worst. We’ll figure out exactly what happened there.”
It’s been speculated Morant could potentially face a greater suspension this time.
