NFL Hall of Fame inductee Shannon Sharpe is likely to never return to ESPN after being embroiled in a multimillion-dollar sex scandal, a former employee said.
Former ESPN employee Dan Le Batard, who hosted his own popular show on the worldwide sports leader[,] informed the public that just because the network decided not to terminate Sharpe’s contract amid the scandal doesn’t mean they intend to allow him to return.
“We probably all know at this point that Shannon Sharpe is not likely to ever work at ESPN again, right? I think we can reasonably assume Shannon Sharpe would like it to look like he has a chance to return,” he said on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” according to the Daily Mail.
“I don’t know if you can be Disney and allow any of what happened there,” Le Batard added.
Sharpe, a Denver Broncos legend and host of his own popular podcasts, “Club Shay Shay” and “Nightcap,” was the object of a $50 million civil lawsuit by a woman who claims that he raped and brutalized her on multiple occasions beginning in December 2024. She accuses Sharpe of assault, sexual assault, battery and sexual battery.
The woman said Sharpe allegedly committed these acts during their two-year relationship after he aggressively pursued her in 2019 when she was 19 years old.
The woman, who is only identified as “Jane Doe,” said in the civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County that Sharpe “often manipulated her — at times being sweet and loving to get what he wanted, and at other times being angry and aggressive to achieve his goals.”
It was not long before she said she discerned that Sharpe was “extremely emotional and possessed an uncontrollable temper.”
Jane Doe also said Sharpe “displayed the characteristics of a true narcissist,” who “wielded his power, his influence and his celebrity to control” her.
Sharpe categorically denies Jane Doe’s claims through his attorney, Lanny J. Davis, who dismissed the lawsuit as a money grab[.]
“Mr. Sharpe categorically denies all allegations of coercion or misconduct — especially the gross lie of ‘rape’ — and will not submit to what he sees as an egregious attempt at blackmail,” Sharpe’s attorney said. “He stands firmly by the truth and is prepared to fight these false claims vigorously in court.”
The statement also painted Sharpe’s relationship with Jane Doe as a “consensual” one and that it involved “role-playing, sexual language and fantasy scenarios.”
