Shannon Sharpe is pressing pause on his work at ESPN as he fights a $50 million rape lawsuit.
The former NFL star released a statement Thursday, April 24, on social media, saying he is “temporarily” leaving the sports network to focus on “false” allegations against him.
“My statement is found here and this is the truth. The relationship in question was 100% consensual,” Sharpe began.
“At this juncture I am electing to step aside temporarily from my ESPN duties. I will be devoting my time to my family, and responding and dealing with these false and disruptive allegations set against me. I plan to return to ESPN at the start of the NFL preseason,” he continued.
Related: Shannon Sharpe Claims ‘Shakedown’ But Admits Offering Assault Accuser $10 Million Settlement
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) April 24, 2025
The “Club Shay Shay” podcast host ended the statement by thanking his friends, fans, and co-workers for their support.
Sharpe has made near-constant headlines since Sunday, when an anonymous Jane Doe accuser, represented by attorney Tony Buzbee, filed the civil lawsuit against Sharpe in Clark County, Nevada.
In the 13-page complaint, the woman said she met the media personality in 2023 at a gym in Los Angeles when she was 19 years old and he was in his 50s.
The accuser said the two began dating and had a “rocky consensual relationship,” but she alleged Sharpe became abusive when she confronted him for “cheating” with other women.
The lawsuit said the woman lived in Nevada and the violence escalated last fall.
The complaint alleged Sharpe “forcibly anally raped” her 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.”
Sharpe’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, has done several interviews and said the woman was an OnlyFans model and the pair’s relationship was transactional.
On Monday, Davis released explicit text messages purportedly exchanged between his client and the accuser, and said Sharpe “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. Some of the texts had racial undertones, with the attorney saying the pair had an “adult relationship that involved role-playing.”
In one message, the woman told Sharpe she wanted him to put a “big Black baby” inside of her.
Then on Tuesday, TMZ Sports released an audio recording of a man who sounded 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.
A short time later, Sharpe posted a now-viral video on his social media platforms saying he was being targeted for his wealth.
“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… Tony Buzbee targets Black men.”
Sharpe also said he was preparing to file a defamation lawsuit in response to the complaint.
That same day his attorney, held a virtual news conference with reporters and revealed Sharpe was recently in mediation with Jane Doe and offered to pay her “at least $10 million.” Instead, something happened and Buzbee filed the $50 million lawsuit “without warning.”
Buzbee confirmed the $10 million figure in a statement on social media.
He slammed Sharpe’s attorney, adding that Davis had made a “grievous error” by breaching a confidentiality agreement, “while at the same time deliberately revealing Jane Doe’s name, phone number, and private text messages”… that he said predate the alleged assault.
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