Apr 24, 2025, 06:15 PM ET

Shannon Sharpe, a Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end and current ESPN host, said Thursday he would step away from his TV duties after a Nevada woman sued him for sexual assault and battery in Nevada civil court.

“At this juncture I am electing to step aside temporarily from my ESPN duties,” Sharpe said in a statement. “I will be devoting this 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.”

ESPN also issued a statement, saying: “This is a serious situation, and we agree with Shannon’s decision to step away.”

Sharpe, who worked on “First Take” on ESPN, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman he met in a Los Angeles-area health club in 2023.

The lawsuit, filed under the pseudonym Jane Doe, says the woman and Sharpe had a “rocky consensual relationship” lasting nearly two years but that it turned “controlling” and “abusive.” The suit describes in detail a number of increasingly aggressive encounters and says the relationship became “fearful and non-consensual” in the summer of 2024. It says the two last met Jan. 2.

According to the complaint, Sharpe became increasingly verbally abusive, controlling and violent over time, once threatening to kill the woman and recording their sexual encounters without consent.

The suit, filed by the law firm headed by Tony Buzbee (who also represented a number of women who filed civil suits against NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson), asks for more than $50 million in damages and penalties.

Sharpe was a four-time All-Pro tight end who played on two Super Bowl championship teams with the Denver Broncos and another with the Baltimore Ravens over 14 seasons from 1990 to 2003. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.

Sharpe has been a staple on TV and social media since retiring. He left FS1’s sports debate show “Undisputed” in 2023 and joined ESPN soon afterward.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.