A woman accused Pro Football Hall of Famer and podcaster Shannon Sharpe of sexually assaulting and battering her and using his fame to “manipulate, control, subjugate and violate women” in a Nevada lawsuit filed Sunday.
The woman said she was 19 years old in 2023 when she first met Sharpe, 56, in a Los Angeles gym, leading to a “rocky consensual relationship” of nearly two years in which he was frequently “aggressive” and raped her, the civil complaint, filed in Clark County, alleges.
The plaintiff accused Sharpe of failing to stop his actions despite her saying “no,” according to the complaint.
“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 complaint alleges.
The plaintiff accused Sharpe of twice raping her in Las Vegas in October — ignoring her requests for him to stop — and doing so again in January, according to the suit.
In a statement, Sharpe’s attorney said his client’s and the woman’s relationship was “consensual and sexual in nature — and, in many cases, initiated by her with specific and graphic requests.”
The statement included alleged text messages sent by the woman to Sharpe, which are sexually graphic in nature and in which she allegedly consented to sex.
The suit is a “blatant and cynical attempt to shake down Mr. Sharpe for millions of dollars. It is filled with lies, distortions, and misrepresentations — and it will not succeed,” Lanny Davis, Sharpe’s counsel, said in the statement.
The complaint alleges Sharpe insisted on recording sexual encounters, sometimes without the plaintiff’s knowledge or consent, claiming that they were for his personal use. Instead, he on multiple occasions shared the videos with his “friends and associates,” the suit states.
At one point, Sharpe forced the woman to have sex with him while FaceTiming one of his childhood friends, according to the suit.
“Whenever Plaintiff would get up the courage to object to Sharpe’s outrageous conduct—which was not often—he would aggressively and angrily ‘put her back in her place,'” the complaint alleges.
Davis’ statement says the woman presented Sharpe with an allegedly secretly recorded video of a consensual sexual encounter in an effort to “extract a large financial settlement.”
“We believe the video has been heavily edited and taken entirely out of context, crafted to falsely portray a consensual act as non-consensual,” Davis said, adding that the woman has refused to provide the unedited video. It was not clear whether the video Davis referenced is one of the videos that are referenced in the suit.
Sharpe at one point figured out how to get into the woman’s apartment complex without her permission, according to the suit, which painted him as “controlling.”
In one instance following a sexual encounter from the night before, Sharpe allegedly told the woman to be at his house by 9 p.m., the suit states. When she arrived at 9:05 p.m., the plaintiff “experienced [Sharpe’s] rage for the first time,” the complaint alleges.
Sharpe screamed and berated the woman “for what felt like hours,” accused her of disrespecting him and wasting his time, and demanded she “learn obedience” if she wanted to be with him, the lawsuit said.
“Still enraged, Sharpe turned off the lights, grabbed her neck, and—just like the night before—began having sexual intercourse with her,” according to the complaint.
“Yelling at her, controlling her, forcibly grabbing her by the neck when he got upset, saying he was going to ‘kill her,’ and asserting dominance became the norm,” the suit alleges.
Sharpe apologized last year for going live on Instagram during an intimate act, an incident referenced in the complaint and which the woman alleges “humiliated her” because Sharpe had allegedly told her they were in an exclusive relationship.
“This was a lie that not only hurt her emotionally—it made her fear for her sexual health and the risk of sexually transmitted disease,” the suit states.
The lawsuit was filed under “Jane Doe” by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who also represented several female massage therapists who accused quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault.
Davis’ statement names the woman filing suit. NBC News does not name sexual assault victims unless they voluntarily identify themselves in public.
The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $50 million.
Sharpe, a tight end, played 14 years in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens. He won three Super Bowls and was named a Pro Bowl player eight times.
“Shannon Sharpe isn’t just a sports icon — he’s something far worse,” the suit alleges. “He is a flawed, narcissistic individual who has spent years using his fame, power and influence to manipulate, control, subjugate and violate women.”
Sharpe was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 and has gone on to a long broadcasting career. He is currently employed by ESPN, where he appears on “First Take.”
An ESPN spokesperson said Monday night that the network has no comment on the lawsuit.
Lilia Wood, Austin Mullen and Hayley Walker contributed.
