Shannon Sharpe says he’s being shaken down, while an attorney for the woman suing him counters newly released audio proves the former NFL star is “dangerous.”
TMZ Sports released the audio recording on Tuesday, April 22, of a man who sounds like Sharpe telling a woman, “I’m gonna f–king choke the s–t out of you.”
The outlet said it obtained the recording from attorney Tony Buzbee, who filed a civil lawsuit against Sharpe alleging rape on behalf of an anonymous “Jane Doe” accuser on Sunday in Nevada.
Related: Shannon Sharpe ‘Categorically Denies’ Sexual Assault Claim, Releases Graphic Text Messages
The woman accusing #ShannonSharpe of r*pe has now released audio of a conversation she says she had with him … and in it, Sharpe can be heard telling her he’s “going to f***ing choke the s*** out” of her. Read the full #exclusive story: https://t.co/SFHeYGx3rF pic.twitter.com/Hj9lh3Xe8R
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) April 22, 2025
In the recording, the woman tells the man: “Anything I say you’re just gonna get mad at me, and you’re just gonna hang up on me.”
Sharpe allegedly replies, “I’m not gonna hang up on you, it is what it is.”
The woman later says, “I don’t want to be choked,” to which the man responds, “Yes, you do. I don’t think you have a choice in the matter.”
Tensions escalate, with the woman saying, “I don’t want to be, don’t manipulate me.”
The man responds, “If you say that word one more time, I’m gonna f–king choke the s–t out of you when I see you.”
In a statement to TMZ, Buzbee said: “The contents of this clip are certainly not sexual. They are not playful. They are instead disturbing, aggressive, and dangerous.”
A short time after TMZ released the audio, Sharpe posted a now-viral video on his social media platforms addressing the woman’s 13-page lawsuit, which Deadline posted online.
“This is a shakedown. I’m going to be open, transparent, and defend myself because this isn’t right,” Sharpe said. “This is all being orchestrated by Tony Buzbee, who has targeted Jay-Z. Tony Buzbee targets Black men.”
The former football star then dropped a bombshell, saying Buzbee is about to release a sex tape. He implored the attorney to release the entire video instead of just an edited “clip.”
“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 ever possibly imagine. That video should actually be 10 minutes or so,” Sharpe stated.
He then made a direct appeal to Buzbee.
“Hey Tony, instead of releasing your edit, put the whole video out. I don’t have it or I would myself,” he said, adding that he believes the woman intentionally set him up.
Sharpe threatened to take legal action of his own — in the form of a defamation lawsuit.
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) April 22, 2025
Jane Doe said in her lawsuit that she met the ESPN commentator in 2023 at a gym in Los Angeles when she was 19 years old and he was in his 50s.
The complaint said the two had a “rocky consensual relationship,” but she alleged Sharpe became abusive when she confronted him about “cheating” with other women.
The lawsuit said Doe is a resident of Nevada.
“In October 2024, Shannon Sharpe violently sexually assaulted” Doe two different times in Las Vegas, the lawsuit said.
The complaint alleged Sharpe “forcibly anally raped” Doe at her apartment on Oct. 6, 2024, after she broke things off with him. “He told her, in the moment as she was crying, that the experience was so good it was giving him chills,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleged Sharpe raped Doe again on Jan. 2, 2025, as she “screamed and sobbed.”
On Monday, Sharpe’s attorney Lanny J. Davis released explicit text messages purportedly exchanged between the superstar podcaster and the accuser, and said his client “categorically denies all allegations of coercion or misconduct.”
Davis posted transcripts of the texts, and released Doe’s name on Sharpe’s Instagram page.
The woman is said to be white and almost four decades younger than Sharpe.
Some of the texts had racial undertones, with the attorney saying the pair had an “adult relationship that involved role-playing.”
Then on Tuesday, Davis dropped yet another bombshell in the case.
During a virtual news conference attended by the New York Post and NBC Sports, the attorney revealed Sharpe was recently in mediation with Doe and offered to pay her “at least $10 million,” when Buzbee filed her $50 million lawsuit, “without warning.”
“It was a big surprise to us a few days ago when this case was filed,” Davis told reporters.
Last October, Buzbee announced he planned to file 120 sexual abuse lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs. He followed through and flooded the courts with an avalanche of complaints against the jailed musical mogul, although many of them were later dropped.
The Texas attorney also filed a lawsuit against Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter last year, alleging he and Diddy took turns raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000. Both Diddy and Jay-Z denied the allegations. That suit was dropped as well. Jay-Z then filed a defamation lawsuit against Buzbee and the accuser.
Maria Leal contributed to this report.
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