While ESPN decided to keep Shannon Sharpe on board after he accidentally appeared live on Instagram having sex, other partners and guests are on the verge of cutting ties with the First Take host.

On Wednesday, Sharpe’s Instagram account began streaming while he could be heard engaging in sexual activity with a woman he called “Michelle.” That evening, Sharpe went on his Nightcap show and claimed responsibility for what he called an accident after his team initially claimed he had been hacked.

As the scandal continues to rage, Sharpe said on the show Thursday that people and companies are refusing to associate with him following the incident.

“People are trying to say it was staged,” Sharpe said. “Today I just lost an interview at Club ShayShay, which would have been the most prominent person I could ever interview. They said no.”

“We have six- and seven-figure sponsors and advertisers saying, ‘Shannon, we don’t know if we want to continue this relationship,'” he continued.

Shannon Sharpe claimed advertisers are pulling out of his podcast due to the sex video scandal

Sharpe went live on his Instagram while having an intimate moment with a woman

“My company, ShayShay Media, will soon be a free agent, which means we can take Nightcap and Club ShayShay anywhere we want,” Sharpe added.

“So, do you think I would be willing to risk that… $170 million to $200 million over the next five to seven years, do you think I would be willing to risk that to do that? Would you be willing to risk $200 million?”

Jason Whitlock had previously called Sharpe a “master of provocation” on Thursday and claimed the “accident” was staged to attract viewers and counter rumors about his sexuality.

“He’s a master bait-and-switcher,” Whitlock said. “Late at night, he goes on Nightcap, confesses, and gets 185,000, 190,000, 200,000 live viewers on YouTube – that’s a huge number.”

“And so people immediately said, ‘Was this leaked intentionally to get publicity? Was this leaked intentionally to counteract the rumors that Shannon Sharpe is a lesbian? Those rumors have been around for quite some time.'”

Jason Whitlock suspected that Sharpe intentionally streamed himself having sex to get views

During the widely watched episode of Nightcap, Sharpe said he threw his phone on the bed and had no idea that a live stream had been started from the ceiling while Sharpe and the woman were engaging in sexual acts.

While Sharpe spoke of his difficulties with the technology, co-host Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson pointed out that starting a live stream requires several steps and rarely happens by accident.

As for the rumors about his sexuality, Sharpe revealed that he received a call from comedian Kat Williams, who joked that he was dating “Michelle” and not “Michael.”

Sharpe was absent from Thursday’s episode of First Take — which was hosted by Stephen A. Smith and featured Dan Orlovsky — on a scheduled day off. However, he is expected to return to ESPN on Monday, which is consistent with his usual schedule.