Shannon Sharpe comes out with the truth.

Hours after explicit audio recordings of a sex act were heard on his Instagram Live – Sharpe initially claimed his account had been hacked – Club Shay Shay Moderator commented on an emergency episode of Nightcapthe podcast he co-hosts with fellow retired NFL star Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.

“Of course I’m embarrassed,” said Sharpe, 56. “I’m someone who is very, very private, and if one of his most intimate details, which is the audio recording, is available to the whole world, I’m embarrassed for a number of reasons.”

Sharpe continued in the third person: “People are counting on Shannon. Shay Shay Media… ESPN, there are a lot of people who are always counting on him. Even when I’m behind closed doors, I try to maintain a certain level of professionalism, even though I’m in the privacy of my own home, and I’m very disappointed in myself, not in the act – there are millions and billions of people of consenting age who participate in these kinds of activities.”

The NFL Hall of Fame member went on to say that the sexual act was not “staged” and that he was not familiar with Instagram Live and had never used it before.

“I’ve never turned on IG Live, so I don’t know how it works,” he added.

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When his phone started ringing and people tried to reach him, Sharpe said he began to realize what had happened.

“Man, my heart sank into my pants,” he said. “It fell down.”

The former Denver Broncos tight end had previously claimed in an Instagram story that his account had been compromised.

“Beware, my Instagram @shannonsharpe84 was hacked this morning. My team and I are working hard to figure this out,” he wrote, signing the note with his nickname Unc.

Sharpe also made headlines earlier this summer due to a dispute with Shaquille O’Neal.

The two argued over the MVP of last NBA season, with Sharpe accusing O’Neal of being jealous of Denver Nuggets player Nikola Jokic.

The former football star shared Nightcap He believed O’Neal – who has only one MVP trophy in his NBA Hall of Fame career – was partly “jealous” of Jokic.

O’Neal later released a diss track in which he called Sharpe “completely beneath him” and called his podcast “bullshit.”

On the red carpet at the Webby Awards in May, Sharpe told PEOPLE that he had “no problem” with Shaq.

“He said what he said: I’m ready to move on,” Sharpe told PEOPLE at the time.