ESPN First Take host Shannon Sharpe has been accused of rape in a $50 million lawsuit filed on Sunday in Nevada.
The lawsuit was filed through celebrity attorney Tony Buzbee on behalf of a woman who wishes to remain anonymous and is being identified only as “Jane Doe.”
The filing alleges that Sharpe sexually assaulted the woman multiple times over the last several years after they first met in 2023 at a Los Angeles gym, according to TMZ.
The woman claims that Sharpe relentlessly pursued her with constant texts, demands for meetings, and requests for dates. She also says that she eventually gave in, and she and Sharpe engaged in a mutually consensual sexual relationship. But she goes on to say that Sharpe was very demanding, controlling, and abusive during their relationship.
“He demanded complete control over her time and body,” the lawsuit states, “expecting her to be at his house on his schedule, at his command, whenever he called.”
Jane Doe alleges that she was frequently terrified when the former NFL star erupted in anger at her while a firearm sat out in the open near him.
“Plaintiff tried sharing her location with friends from her iPhone — just in case,” the filing states. “But Sharpe saw her doing this. The moment he realized what she was doing, he grabbed her by the neck and told her, ‘If you ever do that again, I will f***ing kill you.'”
She also alleges that she was the object of a sexual assault after Sharpe “accidentally” posted a recording of a sexual encounter to Instagram last September. She notes that the woman on the recording was not her.
Eventually, Sharpe apologized after audio of him having sexual relations with a woman was “mistakenly” broadcast over Instagram Live.
“Obviously, I am embarrassed. Someone that is extremely, extremely private and to have one of your most intimate details – the audio – heard for the entire world to hear, I’m embarrassed for a number of reasons,” Sharpe said at the time during an emergency episode of Nightcap.
But Doe is now claiming that the recording Sharpe played led to an argument between them that ended with Sharpe raping her. And she alleges that it was not the only time Sharpe forced himself on her sexually.
“A woman can say ‘yes’ to consensual sexual relations with a man ninety-nine times, but when she says ‘no’ even once, that ‘no’ means no,” the first page of the complaint reads.
“Defendant Shannon Sharpe, a man who is accustomed to getting what he wants,” the filing adds, “completely fails to understand this basic concept. After many months of manipulating and controlling Plaintiff — a woman more than thirty years younger than he — and repeatedly threatening to brutally choke and violently slap her, Sharpe refused to accept the answer no and raped Plaintiff, despite her sobbing and repeated screams of ‘no.'”
“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up against those with power, fame, and money,” Buzbee said in a statement. “I look forward to pressing this case in court.”
Buzzbee has specialized in salacious lawsuits against celebrities filed by those claiming sexual assault.
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