Shannon Sharpe’s lawyer wants fans to know that the $10 million settlement offer extended to the woman accusing the ESPN personality of sexual assault is not an admission that he did anything wrong.
Attorney Lanny Davis released a lengthy statement directed at Pro Football Talk writer Mike Florio, who wrote on Tuesday, April 22, that it was “hard to reconcile the aggressive claim that the allegations are fabricated with the admission that Sharpe offered at least $10 million to settle the case.”
“I strongly disagree with Mr. Florio’s opinion that Mr. Sharpe’s decision to pay [the plaintiff] who engaged in blackmail — a threat to publish private sexual activity unless she was paid substantial money — in any way infers that Mr. Sharpe was responsible for any wrongdoing,” wrote Davis, 79, in a statement published Wednesday. “And [it] certainly does not change his belief (and mine as his attorney) that [the plaintiff] lied in her allegations in the complaint she filed and was responsible for an edited tape leaving a false impression of non-consensual sexual activity and she has refused to allow that tape to be examined by an independent expert to determine whether she made any editing or deletions in the original tape that she secretly made during sexual activity with Mr. Sharpe.”
On April 20, a woman, identified as “Jane Doe” filed a $50 million lawsuit in Nevada, accusing Sharpe, 56, of assault, sexual assault, battery and sexual battery.
Related: What to Know About Shannon Sharpe Rape and Sexual Battery Accusations
According to court documents obtained by NBC Sports, the two had a “a rocky consensual relationship” over two years, but in that time, Sharpe also allegedly inflicted intentional emotional distress.
She also alleged that in the final months of their relationship, Sharpe became more controlling. When she tried to end the relationship in 2024 after Sharpe accidentally live-streamed himself having sex with another woman, he allegedly raped her twice, in October 2024 and again in January 2025. Sharpe has denied wrongdoing.
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“Mr. Sharpe decided to pay the substantial blackmail money demanded by the [plaintiff] for the same reason why many many other innocent people subject to a blackmail threat decide, usually painfully, to pay the blackmailer for the same reasons [as] Mr. Sharpe, having absolutely nothing to do with any admission of wrongdoing,” Davis’ statement continued. “In Mr. Sharpe’s case as in the case of virtually all other similar subjects of blackmail, the reason [was] primarily to avoid public embarrassment for himself and his family and other adverse consequences to his life and reputation.”
He continued, “I respectfully suggest that if Mr. Florio take the time to do fact reporting and interview many others who made the same decision as Mr. Sharpe to pay the blackmailer — and be able, based on fact reporting and not opinion writing, to demonstrate that most people who decide to pay blackmailers do so without the slightest implication of admitting to wrongdoing or any worry about personal wrongdoing.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
