Shannon Sharpe rarely runs away from an opportunity to defend LeBron James, whom the NFL Hall of Famer, media pundit, and podcast host routinely hails as the greatest NBA player of all time.
This week, though, Sharpe put on his shield to stick up for James’ wife, Savannah James, after she was peppered with criticism following an appearance on a podcast with her longtime best friend and business partner, April McDaniel.
While Savannah and McDaniel had previously mentioned on their own “Everybody’s Crazy” podcast that McDaniel will sometimes not fly in first class when she and Savannah travel by plane on trips together, they again broached the topic in a recent interview on the Boardroom’s “Mental Wealth” podcast.
“We talk about this a lot because there’s two different lifestyles that exist,” McDaniel said about her relationship with Savannah. “Like, we’re not delusional to that, and I think Savannah has accommodated where I’m at. So, like, if we want to go away, I can’t just be like, ‘Alright, we going away tomorrow.’ I’m on a budget.”
“Like, we don’t just show up at Fashion Week week of,” McDaniel added. “Like, we don’t move like that, even though people think we do. And I think accommodating, like even if we’re going on the same trip, I don’t feel the need to be in first (class) because that’s not in my budget.”
The fact that Savannah does not foot the bill for McDaniel led to some backlash online, with some suggesting that James’ wife should be willing to pay because of her husband’s estimated net worth of over a billion dollars.
“I heard people (say), ‘Man, if my husband was worth $1.4 billion I would do this,’” Sharpe said on his “Nightcap” podcast. “Well, your husband ain’t worth that. … If you got a billion dollars, it’s easy to say what we would do. We ain’t got it.”
Sharpe also applauded McDaniel’s approach to her friendship with Savannah.
“I love April even more,” Sharpe said, “because she’s like, ‘I ain’t got it like that. Ain’t no sense in me robbing peter to pay paul to try and get a first-class ticket so I can be somebody that I’m not.'”
“A lot of times there are a lot of people that live outside their means,” Sharpe continued. “A lot of people that’s commenting, live outside their means. … My friends ain’t obligated to none of my money.”
While some speculated online that this mindset could alienate Savannah’s friends, she says that is simply not reality.
“My friends are very respectful of my situation,” Savannah said. “All of them. Like, I’ve never had an instance like that one time. And I think that they are, you know, if I’m like, ‘We’re going somewhere.’ They already understand what it is.”
“It’s no expectation of like taking care of something, or, you know, just having me be responsible for them,” she added.
McDaniel is the current founder and CEO of creative and experiential agency “Crown and Conquer,” which she started in 2016.
McDaniel also stated on their recent podcast appearance that she and Savannah started a holding company, “Signed,” three months ago with the goal of managing their various business ventures.
Savannah and McDaniel, who have been friends for 15 years, recently committed to a deal to film 50 more episodes of their podcast.
“I got two kids. I’m making them fly commercial and coach,” McDaniel said. “And do. Like, that’s not my vibe. Like, I just think it’s so many misconceptions with social media around money and what things cost.
“And I’m like, ‘Yeah, no. Like that’s not reality.’ And I think people have gotten so accustomed to fast money. And when you have to earn it, I feel like you do treat it differently. And I think it’s really important for people to realize it’s OK to be normal.”
