The $50 million rape lawsuit filed towards NFL Corridor of Famer Shannon Sharpe is so explosive and specific that the famend sports activities commentator has determined to step away from ESPN indefinitely.
Sharpe notified his 2 million followers on X, previously often known as Twitter, that he had determined to “step apart” indefinitely from the favored “First Take” discuss present as he navigates by means of this treacherous authorized terrain.
Shannon Sharpe is out at ESPN
The previous Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens tight finish got here to ESPN after leaving Fox Sports activities 1’s “Undisputed” discuss present in 2023. The sports activities firm additionally launched a fast assertion, basically agreeing with Sharpe’s determination to take a moratorium from the worldwide sports activities chief.
ESPN and mother or father firm Disney are investigating
In the meantime, ESPN, which is owned by Disney, intends to “additional examine” the matter, in accordance with what Stephen A. Smith stated on his self-titled YouTube present on Wednesday, April 23. Sharpe continues to emphatically deny the girl’s accusations and denounced the lawsuit as a “shakedown.” He maintains that they’d a BDSM — bondage and submission, sadism and masochism — sexual relationship that was at all times consensual.
The sordid case defined
In an specific lawsuit filed in Clark County in Las Vegas on April 20, the girl recognized as “Jane Doe” stated she and Sharpe met at a Los Angeles gymnasium in 2023 and started having sexual relations not too lengthy thereafter.
The plaintiff stated she was harm when Sharpe claims he “by chance” livestreamed himself on Instagram having intercourse with one other girl in the summertime of 2024, which she stated humiliated her. That’s when Jane Doe claims she started to drag again from the “First Take” co-host in October 2024. Nevertheless, she states that Sharpe grew to become very aggressive to get her again and raped her twice between December 2024 and January 2025. She is accusing Sharpe of assault, sexual assault, battery, and sexual battery, in addition to intentional infliction of emotional misery. She seeks $50 million in precise and punitive damages.
“After many months of manipulating and controlling Plaintiff — a lady greater than 30 years youthful than he — and repeatedly threatening to brutally choke and violently slap her, Sharpe refused to simply accept the reply no and raped Plaintiff, regardless of her sobbing and repeated screams of ‘no,” the 13-page submitting claims, in accordance with the paperwork obtained by Deadlline.
Authorized pundits imagine Shannon Sharpe inadvertently sophisticated issues for himself
Issues might have been made extra precarious for Sharpe when, by way of his legal professional Lanny Davis, he launched textual content messages which might be thought-about extraordinarily graphic and vile. The technique was to attempt to show that the feminine accuser was typically the aggressor and initiated the sexual exercise.
Sharpe’s public picture took one other hit with the revelation by the legal professional that the creator of the “Membership Shay Shay” and “Nightcap” podcasts had provided the plaintiff $10 million to maintain the whole lot quiet, thus sounding the alarm bells at ESPN.
“Sharpe’s group is now making an attempt to discredit and dox her. Sharpe and his group at the moment are, as anticipated, additionally attacking me. We aren’t going to be deterred by these ways.” Buzbee then performed an audio tape on April 22 of a person who sounds just like Sharpe threatening Jane Doe, saying, “I’m going to f–king choke the s–t out of you once I see you,” the audio stated, in accordance with TMZ.