Former NFL star Shannon Sharpe is denying claims made by an anonymous accuser in a $50 million rape lawsuit.
Deadline posted the 13-page civil complaint online after it was filed Sunday, April 20, in Clark County, Nevada.
The woman, identified only as a “Jane Doe,” alleged she was assaulted by the sports star and popular podcaster between October 2024 and January 2025.
The woman said she met Sharpe in 2023 at a gym in Los Angeles when she was 19 years old and he was in his 50s. “At the time she did not know who he was, only that he was another older man oggling her at the gym,” the lawsuit said.
Related: Soulja Boy ‘Deeply Disappointed’ After Losing $4 Million Sexual Assault Case
The woman said Sharpe pursued her and demanded she sign a nondisclosure agreement or NDA.
“She wondered why Sharpe was so insistent on her signing an NDA. She refused. Despite his repeated efforts to get her to sign… Eventually, he dropped the issue and invited her to his house,” according to the complaint.
The accuser stated in the lawsuit that the two had a “rocky consensual relationship,” but she alleged Sharpe became abusive when she confronted him for “cheating” with other women.
“Sharpe flew into fits of anger when Plaintiff noted his infidelity to their relationship,” the lawsuit stated.
“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,” the complaint alleged.
The lawsuit said the woman lived in Nevada and the violence escalated last fall.
“In October 2024, Shannon Sharpe violently sexually assaulted and anally raped Plaintiff two different times in Las Vegas, Nevada, blatantly ignoring her requests for him to stop. He did it again in January,” the lawsuit read.
The complaint alleged the sports star even threatened to take Doe’s life.
“One time specifically, he was yelling at her while there was a firearm visible in his room,” the complaint said. “Terrified for her safety, Plaintiff tried sharing her location with friends from her iPhone — just in case. 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–king kill you.’”
The woman also alleged Sharpe recorded intimate encounters without her consent and shared the recordings with others.
The lawsuit additionally mentioned an infamous incident on Instagram in September 2024, when the ESPN commentator “accidentally” live streamed audio of himself having sex with another woman and later apologized.
Doe claimed she decided to end the relationship after that incident because she thought the two were in an exclusive relationship, although she said Sharpe continued to pursue her.
“Sharpe refused to accept the answer no and raped Plaintiff, despite her sobbing and repeated screams of ‘no,’” the lawsuit alleged.
The accuser is represented by Micah Nash and Tony Buzbee, who filed dozens of lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs, many of which have since been dropped.
Sharpe’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, issued a lengthy statement on Monday, calling Doe’s lawsuit a “blatant and cynical attempt to shake down Mr. Sharpe for millions of dollars.”
Davis said Doe’s complaint is “filled with lies, distortions, and misrepresentations — and it will not succeed.”
The attorney released the woman’s name publicly, which we will not publish here. He also released explicit text messages said to be from exchanges between the NFL Hall of Famer and the woman.
One message purportedly from Doe read: “I want you to put a dog collar around my neck and choke me with it while you’re f–king me.”
Another message read: “I know you miss this big juicy a– … $25,000 for each cheek.”
In a third message, the woman told Sharpe she wanted him to put a “big Black baby” inside of her.
The attorney included the dates the messages were sent, and said the pair had a “consensual, adult relationship that involved role-playing.”
The attorney concluded by saying Sharpe “categorically denies all allegations of coercion or misconduct — especially the gross lie of ‘rape,'” adding that Doe is allegedly trying to “blackmail” his client with a video she “secretly taped.”
Last week, Front Office Sports reported that the “Club Shay Shay” podcast host is close to finalizing a $100 million podcasting deal.
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