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EXCLUSIVE, UPDATED with more details: Shannon Sharpe will almost
certainly not be returning to ESPN’s First Take next week.

With rape allegations, a $50 million lawsuit, and a derailed multimillion-dollar settlement surrounding the NFL Hall of Farmer, the
Jimmy Pitaro-run cable sports outlet has decided to bench Sharpe from
his regular Monday and Tuesday slot on the Stephen A. Smith fronted
show, I hear.

Whether or not Sharpe returns to First Take in subsequent weeks is TBD apparently.

Currently, Disney-owned ESPN intends to “further investigate,” according
to one corporate source, the Jane Doe claims in the lawsuit and Sharpe’s insistence it is a “shakedown” and the relationship was untraditional
but consensual. Unsurprisingly, the April 22 revelation by Sharpe’s own lawyer Lanny Davis that the Nightcap podcast co-host offered to write
his accuser a $10 million check to keep this on the down-low has also
“raised concerns” at ESPN.

ESPN had no comment on Sharpe being taken off First Take next week.
Sharpe’s attorney Davis did not respond to request for comment on the decision by ESPN.

(UPDATE, 12:04 PM: Mere minutes after Deadline posted its story, Sharpe
posted online that he was “electing to temporarily step aside from my
ESPN duties.” Soon afterwards, an ESPN spokesperson told Deadline: “This
is a serious situation, and we agree with Shannon’s decision to step away.”)


In an explicitly detailed lawsuit filed in Nevada on April 20, the now 21-year-old Jane Doe claims the 56-year-old Sharpe raped her and abused
her on two occasions in Las Vegas over the last year during a
relationship. The couple both admit that they started their relationship
after meeting in an L.A. gym in 2023. Seeking $50 million in damages
from the three-time Super Bowl winner and very successful broadcaster,
the civil complaint alleges assault, sexual assault, battery and sexual battery, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“After many months of manipulating and controlling Plaintiff — a woman
more than thirty years younger than he — and repeatedly threatening to brutally choke and violently slap her, Sharpe refused to accept the
answer no and raped Plaintiff, despite her sobbing and repeated screams
of ‘no,” the 13-page filing claims.

Jane Doe was named publicly online by past Bill Clinton confidante Davis
not long after the suit was put in the Sin City state court docket.
Similar to many media outlets, Deadline does not identify sexual assault accusers and survivors unless they name themselves. On April 21, Davis
also released a plethora of very raw text messages allegedly sent by Doe
to Club Shay Shay boss Sharpe over the months that were intended to
paint “a clear picture” of a “consensual, adult relationship that included role-playing, sexual language, and fantasy scenarios explicitly requested” by the plaintiff.

Plaintiff Jane Doe is represented by Houston-based Tony Buzbee, who is
behind dozens of assault and abuse lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs.

In a video missive put out earlier Tuesday, Sharpe attacked Buzbee’s credibility directly and promised to file a defamation lawsuit against
the admittedly aggressive attorney and the OnlyFans posting Jane Doe.
That suit has seemingly not be filed as of today, but is expected in the
next day or so.

Currently fighting off a legal action from Jay-Z over a now
self-dismissed rape case that accused the rap superstar and the
much-accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of assaulting a 13-year-old back in
2000, Buzbee confirmed on April 22 that this Jane Doe was “offered $10 million to settle but rejected that offer, choosing instead to proceed
with litigation.”

Buzbee went on to say: Sharpe’s team is now trying to discredit and dox
her. Sharpe and his team are now, as anticipated, also attacking me. We
are not going to be deterred by these tactics.” To that, Buzbee put out
an audio tape on April 22 of a man who sounds a lot like Sharpe
threatening “I’m going to f*cking choke the sh*t out of you when I see you” to the plaintiff.

Before the $10 million potential settlement news came out, Stephen A.
Smith on April 22 spoke of the allegations against his self-declared
friend and First Take colleague. Weighing the issues involved and
putting Buzbee in some context, Smith had no answers on Sharpe’s First
Take future. “I can tell you I also spoke to co-chairman of Disney, the
boss, Jimmy Pitaro, who made it very, very clear that ESPN is taking
this matter very seriously and we are looking into this very, very
closely and once we gather as many facts as we possibly can, we will go
from there,” Smith did say.

Even with that, on the verge of inking a new nine-figure deal now that
his around $100 million contract with podcast network The Volume is
over, Sharpe has stayed very much in the public eye since the lawsuit
and its graphic details came out. Besides appearances on his own
podcasts and First Take earlier this week, ex-Denver Bronco tight end
Sharpe will be at the NFL Draft today in Wisconsin.

https://deadline.com/2025/04/shannon-sharpe-benched-espn-first-take-12363 76284/

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