ESPN personality, former NFL star, accused of rape calls lawsuit ‘shakedown’
Shannon Sharpe took to social media Tuesday in response to a 13-page, $50 million civil lawsuit filed Sunday in which he is accused of rape and battery.
The NFL Hall of Famer demanded that a 10-minute “sex tape” of himself be publicly disclosed, saying he is the target of a “shakedown.”
“I believe he’s going to release a 30-second clip of a sex tape that tries to make me look guilty and play into every stereotype you could possibly imagine,” Sharpe said of the Jane Doe accuser and her attorney Tony Buzbee. “That video should actually be 10 minutes or so. ‘Hey, Tony, instead of releasing your edit, put the whole video out. I don’t have it, or I would myself.’”
The NFL analyst has named the woman who filed the lawsuit, which seeks more than $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
“The encounter in question took place during the day at her invitation and now that appears to be a deliberate setup coordinated by (the plaintiff),” Sharpe said.
He continues to say he did nothing wrong.
“This is a shakedown,” Sharpe said. “I’m going to be open, transparent and defend myself, because this isn’t right. This is all being orchestrated by Tony Buzbee, who has targeted Jay-Z.”
The plaintiff said she was in a relationship with Sharpe for nearly two years, and it began as a “rocky consensual relationship.”
The plaintiff alleges Sharpe sexually assaulted her several times at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. The woman, who is seeking $50 million in damages, said she met Sharpe at a Los Angeles gym in 2023 when she was 19 and he was 56.
The complaint accuses Sharpe of threatening to kill her multiple times, being “manipulating and controlling” and “repeatedly threatening to brutally choke and violently slap her.”
“Sharpe flew into fits of anger when Plaintiff noted his infidelity to their relationship, or called him out about his extraneous activities,” the lawsuit said. “What had once been manipulation, control and intimidation now became something far more dangerous and sinister. Sharpe even figured out how to get into Doe’s apartment complex without her permission.”
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.